Elmer Towns-Knowing God Through Fasting (2002) PDF

KNOWING
GOD THROUGH
FASTING
ELMER TOWNS
Copyright 2002 Destiny Image

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even to the point of violating grammatical rules.
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CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
This book is written so that you will experience
God intimately as you read its pages.
Chapter 1
Emptying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Fasting is emptying your body of food. But in
spiritual comparison, you must also empty
yourself of every barrier to God, so you can be
filled with His presence.
Chapter 2
Tasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Fasting is tasting-creating an appetite for the
good things to follow.
Chapter 3
Waiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Fasting is waiting in Gods presence to become
like Him and to do His purpose.
Chapter 4
Coming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Fasting is coming to the Lord to enjoy His presence and find spiritual rest.
Chapter 5
Drinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Fasting is drinking from Gods presence to get
spiritual satisfaction.
Chapter 6
Disciplining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Fasting is disciplining yourself even as Jesus did.
Chapter 7
Growing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Fasting is growing spiritually into the image of
Jesus.
Chapter 8
Looking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Fasting is gaining spiritual perception of Gods
world.
Chapter 9
Resting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Fasting is more than cessation of our activity, it
is entering God's rest.
Chapter 10
Knowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Fasting is knowing God and becoming more
like Him.
FOREWORD
ne of my most treasured friendships is the one I

share with Elmer Towns. Friendships flourish in an
environment of shared interests and mutual trust. The

thing Dr. Towns and I share is our pursuit of God, that
inner drive and desire to know Him and be anointed by
Him in the ministry of writing.
One of the highest compliments I've ever been paid
came from Dr. Towns when he commented that he felt I
had been anointed to write. He said that he wanted an
anointing of God to come upon him to write spiritually so
that when people read his writing, they feel the presence
of God. He asked me to pray for him. Even though this
conversation took place via telephone, the prayer was
heard in the heavens. I asked God to speak to the heart
of every readerand when I read the manuscript of
Knowing God through Fasting, I felt His presence in the
pages and knew He had answered our prayer.
KNOWING GOD THROUGH FASTING

You now hold in your hand the finished product.
Some books will try and tell you how to know God from a
theological perspective. Other books will try to explain
what knowing God really means and give you practical applications for your life. This book is different. It creates
hunger for His presence. And, I join the author, in praying that you, the reader, may know God more intimately
than you ever have before.
Knowing God is not difficult. You do not need some
ancient or modern mantra. There is no special formula.
Elmer Towns has made knowing God as simple as tasting...waitingcomingdrinkinglookingresting. The
answer to knowing God is not found in a pilgrimage to
some sacred location. You do not come to know Him by
the study of deep theological texts. You learn to know
God by looking within your heart, and opening its doors
to Him. The first chapter simply says to know God is to
empty your heart of self, desire and self-pride. When you
empty yourself to God, He will fill you.
Tommy Tenney
Author of The God Chasers
INTRODUCTION
s I ended a 40-day fast, the publisher asked me,

What is the biggest answer to prayer you got from
fasting? I didnt know how to answer him because I didnt
get a spectacular answer to prayer. When I finally admitted I didnt receive an answer, he then asked, Well, why
did you put yourself through this agony for 40 days?
Again I was perplexed, because it wasnt agony, but a
wonderful experience. I answered, Fasting helped me
know God, day by day; I encountered Him like never
before.
Write that in a book, he quickly responded. I did. It
was a book entitled God Encounters, relating stories of how
people in the Bible encountered God and how contemporary people can encounter God. Its a good book, but it
didnt do what I intended. I wanted you, the reader, to personally meet God as you read its pages. But that didnt happen. The book merely described beneficial examples of
others who experienced God.

This book, Knowing God Through Fasting, is written so you will experience God as you read its
pages. Thats my prayer.
As I wrote this book, I talked to God. Now I want you
to talk to Him as you read. Sometimes I talked out loud,
sometimes it was internalsubvocal talkingmore active
than thinking. I talked to God in my mind. Will you talk
to God as you read?
In addition, I touched God as I wrote this book. No,
not with a hand or finger. But it was still like touching
someone physically; I knew inwardly what I experienced.
Thats the sensation I felt as I wrote this book. I touched
God. Will you also try to touch Him as you read?
Also, I heard God talking to me as I wrote this book.
No, not with an audible voice. When someone talks to
me, I inwardly know what he or she says because I hear
him or her with my ears. Instead, as I wrote this book, I
inwardly knew what God was saying to me because I experienced spirit-hearing. God was talking to me. Will you
also try to touch Him as you read?
But more importantly than my touching God, He
touched me. The God of the universe came into my
room. I could feel His presence, but not see Him with my
eyes. I knew He was there, just as surely as I know my wife
sits across from me when we eat a meal. God touched me.
Before you begin reading this book, will you pray,
Touch me, O God, as I read this book?
INTRODUCTION
This book doesnt explain a lot about the methods of
fasting. If you need instructions, read Fasting For Spiritual
Breakthrough, by Elmer Towns, Regal Books, 1996. It will
teach you the nine biblical fasts and the various ways to fast
for different problems that you face. If you need instruction
in how to pray, consult the book, Prayer Partners, by Elmer
Towns, Regal Books, 2002.
This book that you hold in your hands attempts to tell
you how to know God intimately. Its written to create a
yearning in your spirit to know God and to satisfy that desire as you read. When you fast, you should get hungry and
thirsty. My prayer is that this book will make you hunger
and thirst after righteousness. If it succeeds, then I point
you to Jesus Christ who alone can satisfy your desires.
To the glory of God.
Elmer Towns
Chapter 1
EMPTYING
Pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us
(Psalm 62:8b).
I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh ( Joel
2:28a).
Be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18b).
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:31a
NIV).
s Elijah the prophet entered the town of Zarephath,

he searched for a certain person. God had told him
to go there to live with a widow. Why a widow? the gruff

old prophet might have asked. For widows didnt usually
have much food, especially in those days; as a famine
consumed that region, people were starving. Even the
king had dispatched exploratory teams to find food and
green pastureland for his cattle. When Elijah first met the
11

widow gathering sticks at the gate of the city he commanded her, Make me first some bread.
But the widow protested, I have only enough oil
and meal for my son and me. Then we will die.
Elijah persisted, Make me first, then you will eat
(see 1 Kings 17:1-16).
In this powerful Scripture principle, God says you
must give away to receive. When your supply becomes
empty, trust God because then He can fill you. In other
words, if you want to be filled with God, you must first
empty yourself.
As a testimony to the vibrancy of her faith, the widow
obeyed. She fed Elijah first, then discovered there was
enough left over for her and her sonbut not for just
one meal; there was a reoccurring daily replenishing of
the oil and grain. She lived because she gave all to God.
The Lord continually fills those who are empty. Lord, I
empty myself again; fill me.
Empty pots. After old Elijah was gone, a younger
prophet named Elisha had a similar experience (see
2 Kings 4:1-7). A widow came to him who was being
threatened with bankruptcy because she couldnt pay her
bills. The creditors had threatened to throw her two sons
into servitude to satisfy the widows debt. She appealed to
the prophet Elisha for help and informed him that she
had only one little pot of oil left. The prophet told her to
borrow as many empty pots as she could find. She was not
told to borrow pots full of oil, nor was she told to borrow
just oil. She was to collect empty pots, not a few (see
12
EMPTYING
2 Kings 4:3). That phrase meant she was to get as many as
possible.
When the empty pots, pans, jugs, and vessels were
scattered out on the floors of her house, everything was
ready. Why did the prophet say, empty pots? She would
use the one pot of oil to fill the empty ones. She then sold
the oil to pay her debt. In application, you must bring an
empty life to Jesus Christ for Him to fill. Lord, I bring as
many empty pots as I can find.
Empty yourself to be filled with God. Paul told the Ephesians, Dont be drunk with beer or wine, but be filled
with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18, authors translation). God cant
put anything in your vessel if its already filled with something else. Youve got to get rid of the earthly stuff to be
filled with the Holy Spirit. If youre filled with something
anythingwhere will you put the Lord? If youre filled
with ambition, retirement, money, planscan God fill
you? No! You must empty yourself to be filled with God.
Why did Paul instruct us not to be filled with beer
and wine? To some people drinking represents fun. You
cant be filled with Gods Spirit if you are filled with having fun. Others drink alcohol to get away from their problems. You cant be filled with Gods Spirit if you are filled
with denial and anxiety. Some people get drunk because
its an addiction. But again, if you are filled with bad
habits, you cant be filled with the Spirit of God. The secret of being filled with God is to first empty yourself. Its
called repentance. You tell God youre sorry for breaking
13

His laws and promise never to do it again. Have you repented? If so, youre ready to be filled. Lord, I repent.
Empty yourself to drink. A woman from Sychar walked
toward the well under the burning sun; it was high noon.
She carried a large pot on her shoulderit was empty.
She didnt like the hot walk at midday, but there was no
water in the house. She couldnt come in the cool of the
morning or evening because the respectable women in
town jeered at her, not wanting her to be seen with them.
Give me something to drink, a voice interrupted
her troubled thoughts. She didnt know that it was Jesus
speaking to her; she assumed by His accent and dress that
He was just another Jew.
Although she didnt know who this Man was, He
knew all about her. Later she would say, Come see a man
who told me all the things I ever did. Jesus knew her
marital dreams had been broken. She had sought marital
bliss five times, but each expectation ended in a divorce.
Jesus knew she had given upshe was emptybecause
now she had just moved in with a man. No wedding ceremony. No hope.
The woman who met Jesus at the well was just as
empty as her pot (see Jn. 4:5-29). Her dreams were
crushed, her respect gone, her future desolate. What
could Jesus promise this empty woman? Whoever drinks
the water I give him will never thirst ( Jn. 4:14a NIV). But
He didnt just offer her a one-time drink to satisfy her
nagging craving. The water I give him will become in
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EMPTYING
him a spring of water welling up to eternal life ( Jn. 4:14b
NIV).
Are you empty? If not, what fills your life? Jesus says
His drink will give you satisfaction. Do you need something to make you happy? If youll empty your life of
everything else, Jesus will fill it with Himself. He is water
to drink. Ah, thats good.
When you fast to know God, dont begin seeking
Him or trying to learn more about Him. Start by emptying yourself. Lord, I surrender all to You.
Empty a dirty and cracked vessel. Suppose you ask to be
filled but it doesnt happen? Suppose you pray, God, fill
me, but you dont feel anything. Maybe theres some dirt
in your glass. Emptying your vessel means more than
pouring out stuff. It also means washing out the inside.
The Lord cannot fill a dirty vessel. You wash a dirty glass
with soap and water, then rinse it until it sparkles. Now
you can fill it with milk. In the same way, you must wash
your life in the blood of Christ, because the blood of
Jesus Christcleanseth us from all sin (1 Jn. 1:7b).
But you say, I dont see any sin in my life. Dont be
nave. Glasses that look clean to the naked eye may still
contain bacteria or germs. You may have a virus that cant
be seen with an outward look. You may not even know its
there. What can you do? Let the Lord search you.
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and
know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way
15

in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm
139:23-24).
Would you pour milk in a glass with a crack or a hole?
No! It would spill and be lost. Will the Lord fill you if you
are rebellious or if you lie? No. He would be pouring
Himself into a human vessel only to be spilt on the floor.
God will find every sin in you. He knows where the
germs of sin are located, and He knows the inclinations
of your heart (see Jer. 17:9-10). If you try to get Gods filling but it doesnt come because theres sin (dirt or
cracks) you cant see, wash or repair the glass again. You
dont have to see the unseen sin, but you must cleanse it
before God will fill you. Dip the glass into the liquid that
will wash away all your sins-germs. Pray to God, Cleanse
meand I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter
than snow (Ps. 51:7 NIV).
Emptying all types of vessels. What in you needs emptying? Think about all the different kinds of vessels. You use
some vessels for cooking, such as stew pots, frying pans,
and roasters. These vessels can represent your occupation, or what you do with your time. Youre like cookware,
filled with working or improving your talents. No matter
what fills your vessel, it must be emptied before the Lord
can fill it. He may change your job or allow you stay at the
same vocation. When you empty yourself, you let Him
make that decision.
Other people are like a bowl, platter, or decanter.
These are serving vessels. Are you filled with doing things
16
EMPTYING
for people or your family? Even these things can take the
place of Jesus. You must empty good works to be filled
with God.
Others are like vessels used at a meala cup, glass,
or soup bowl. Before the Lord will fill you with His goodness, you must empty out the husk and trash of this world.
What about flower vases, decorative pots, or
planters? Some people go through life putting on a good
front. They are more concerned with what people think
of them than of what God thinks. You must empty your
self-image and desire for respectability before He can fill
you.
Finally, some people are like a popcorn bucket or
beer bottle consumed at athletic events or at the movies.
You must empty your pursuit of entertainment before He
will fill you.
After you empty yourself, then what? Does God automatically fill you because you are empty? No. You must
ask to be filled with the Lords presence. Lord, fill me now.
Fasting is emptying. When you fast, obviously you stop
ingesting food. What happens physically? Since you need
energy to live, you survive off the food that has been
stored in your body. To begin with, the food in your
stomach will supply energy for about a day. Fasting will
cause hunger pangs, similar to the fuel gauge in your automobile that tells you the tank is almost empty. However,
unlike your car, your body doesnt stop running when its
empty. You then get energy from the stored fat in your
body. So when you fast for several days, you live off your
17

fat, which means you lose weight. Thats good if youre
overweight, but it can be disastrous if youre anemic.
There are certain people who are not physically able
to fast. Years ago there was an extremely thin young lady
working in my office. Around 3:00 in the afternoon I
heard a commotion in the reception area. She had tried
to fast, but had fainted. She was subsequently given some
liquid to drink and bread to eat, then went home for the
day and was all right. There are about 30 pathologies that
prevent some from fasting; however, these people can
enter the spirit of the fast while eating only necessities.
You physically empty yourself when you fast. But
what about emptying yourself spiritually? When you feel
hunger pangs, it should alert you to seek God all the
more. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon
Him (Ps. 145:18a). The longer you remain on a fast, the
more you demonstrate your sincerity and desire to have
His presence in your life. The Lord is close toall who
call on Him in sincerity (Ps. 145:18 TLB).
God will not hear you just because you stop eating.
To think youll get your prayers answered because you
dont eat is legalism. But the symbolism of fasting can be
very meaningful. As you allow your physical body to
empty itself of food, make an intentional effort to empty
your soul before God. If you honestly pray and seek Him,
you can be filled. When you come empty to Godof food
and selfHe can fill you.
Turn to Me, says the Lord, with all your heart while
there is time. Empty your hearts, not just your stomachs.
18
EMPTYING
Fast with weeping and mourning. Dont just tear
your clothing to impress Me, rather tear your hard
hearts. Return to Me, Your Lord and Godwho
knows if I will give you mercy and a blessing instead
of a curse? Perhaps Ill give you abundant blessings
( Joel 2:12-14, authors translation).
19
To Take Away
You physically empty yourself when you fast. But
what about emptying yourself spiritually? When you feel
hunger pangs, it should alert you to seek God all the
more. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon
Him (Ps. 145:18). The longer you remain on a fast, the
more you demonstrate your sincerity and desire to have
His presence in your life. The Lord is close to all who
call on Him sincerely (Ps. 145:18, TLB).
God will not hear you just because you quit eating.
Its legalistic to think youll get your prayers answered because you dont eat. But the symbolism can be meaningful. As you allow your physical body to empty itself of
food, make an intentional effort to empty your soul before God. If you honestly pray and seek Him, you can be
filled. When you come to God emptyof food and self
it is then that He can fill you.
Turn to me, says the Lord, with all your heart while
there is time. Empty your hearts, not just your stomachs. Fast with weeping and mourning. Dont just
tear your clothing to impress me, rather tear your hard
hearts. Return to Me, Your Lord and God.Who
knows if I will give you mercy and a blessing instead
of a curse. Perhaps Ill give you abundant blessings
( Joel 2:12-14, authors translation).
20
Chapter 2
TASTING
O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is everyone that enjoys intimacy with Him (Psalm 34:8, authors translation).
y wife and I have a favorite restaurant near the

San Francisco airport. Actually, we like it because
we enjoy a favorite waiter there. He encourages us to feel
good about the food were about to eat. H-m-m-m good,
he smiles and says when he places food in front of us. We
respond the way he wants us to respond. Then he comes
back with a second dish, saying, Delicious. And when he
pours more coffee, he smells the aroma and comments,
Wonderful. And of course for dessert, he beams broadly declaring, Yum, yum. Hes the best server weve ever
met because he motivates us to crave the food before we
place the first bite in our mouth. We like him because he
inspires us to anticipate a good meal. Hes like the sizzle
21

of a good steak or the crackle of corn being popped. And
to many of us, anticipation of pleasure is often more enjoyable than the pleasure itself.
When you taste the Lord, you anticipate all the good
things that He is beginning to do for you. As youre fasting, you read a verse and hear God speaking to you
through the words of Scriptureand then you want to
hear more. You read another verse and God satisfies your
hunger as you learn more about Himand you long for
more. As you read further into the Scriptures and drink
of His goodnessyou get thirstier. As you worship
Himyou desire to praise Him more. Fasting is anticipation of meeting God, knowing He will meet with you.
You can fast for many reasonsto break addictionfor healingto solve a continuing problemor for
revival. However, the greatest reason to fast is to get to
know God and to feed on the Bread of Life. (See Fasting
for Spiritual Breakthrough by Elmer Towns, Regal Books, for
nine different fasts for nine different purposes).
Fasting
Its not about food.
How good is the taste of the Lord? When you fast, you
stop eating food. But fasting is much more than just not
eating. You turn away from earthly food, to feed on God.
When you begin fasting, you take a mere taste of the
Lord, and find out that He is goodHe is very good.
When you taste the Lord, you want more. Lord, Im hungry
for You.
22
TASTING
While in college, I became aware of the class schedule of my future wife. So I used to place myself at strategic locations so that our paths would cross during the day.
As I stood waiting for her, my heart would beat a little
faster and my eyes would search in expectation. I wanted
to hear her voice and talk with her. In the same way, when
you put aside physical food, you begin to fast in anticipation. You want the Lord to meet with you. Lord, I want You
to feed me and satisfy me.
Of all the foods in this world, which do you like
most? I like the taste of Krispy Krme donuts, freshly
baked. I call them angel food because they are so light they
could help an angel fly. How do they taste? Like nothing
else you have ever placed in your mouth. There are other
things I also like to taste. I like the taste of a fresh tomato sandwich, grown in my own garden, picked early in the
morning, and eaten as the sun comes up. I slice the tomato thickone inch thickthen butter one side of the
toast, with mayo on the other. Add enough salt to bring
up the flavor, then I close my eyes to taste satisfaction. I
taste energy and life, because I grew it in my own garden.
I like the taste of a hot, greasy hamburgerplain
vanilla ice creamwarm pound cake fresh out of the
ovenand a frosted mug of A&W Root Beer.
As much as I love these foods, when I fast I turn my
back on it all, and I am again feeding on the Lord.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness (Mt. 5:6a). When I fast, I spend my meal times
in prayer, talking to God, and in the Bible reading His
23

Word. But although Im meeting with God, I know Im
not really eating the deep things of God, because Im not
that spiritual. Im just hungering after God, merely nibbling around the edges. I am only tasting the Lord. But
even then when I take a little bite, I find outGod is
good! Lord, constantly remind me how good You are.
So when you just begin to fast, youre simply eating
around the edges. Have you started to taste the things that
God has provided for you? Lord, Im ready to get started.
Tasting is enjoyment. When you taste food, you do not
swallow a mouthful to get strength, nor do you consume as
much as you can to keep from starving. No! When you taste,
you put a little food on your fork, or you pinch off a piece,
and place it in your mouth. Eating a full meal gives you
strength; tasting is just the first step towards that strength.
Tasting is the first step towards a pleasant experience.
Many people think that fasting is solely denying the
body food and one obviously grows weaker because of
that abstention; much like an automobile stops moving
when it runs out of gas. But thats only one side of the picture. Tasting spiritual things presents a promise of more
to follow. When you taste, Jesus comes to support your
weakness. So when you taste the Lord, it is the first step
towards spiritual strength. Lord, Im weak, I need You.
When you take that first taste of the Lord, you find
that He is good. Just as you enjoy conversation with your
spouse, so you enjoy conversation with the Lord. And just
as you look forward to fellowship with your buddies or
24
TASTING
talking to relatives at a family reunion, so you enjoy talking to the Lord when you taste of Him.
Tasting is a down payment on what is to follow. When I
go to a church supper, I always enjoy potato salad. No two
cooks ever make potato salad the same way. Just as there
are a vast number of personalities, so there are vast tastes
of potato salad. Some cooks put in a little mustard, others
withhold the mustard. I personally like the taste of a little
sweet relish, and a lot of hard-boiled egg whites. When I
see several dishes of potato salad at a church supper, I
taste a little from each bowl. Why? So I can choose which
I like best and return to get a big helping of my favorite.
In the same way, fasting is like my tasting different
kinds of potato salad. Enjoyment is in each anticipated
bite. When you fast you begin to sample God by praying
and listening to Him. After tasting His presence, you desire a big spoonful of God on your plate. Tasting the Lord
is a down payment of more to follow. There is more fellowshipmore enjoymentmore communionand
more union with Him.
When I came to the end of my 40-day fast, I was not
famished for food. Many people who have not fasted for
40 days assume that you approach the last day like a
marathon runner with barely enough strength to make it
to the finish line. No! Thats not the way it is. At the end
of the 40 days, you want to stay on the fastforever. You
have been enjoying the presence of God, and you dont
want to leave. The 40-day fast has been only a taste of
what Heaven is like. You dont want to go back to the
25

world of food again because you feel you might lose the
intimate presence of God. Lord, give me more.
Tasting is creating desire. Usually, you taste food that
youve previously enjoyed. If you havent liked that food
before, youll pass over it the next time it is served. You
taste food that you think will be good. Why? You anticipate it.
The psalmist said, One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord, and to enquire in His temple (Ps. 27:4). The
great passion of David was to spend time with God, to be
close to Him and enjoy His presence. Thats why you fast.
You know you love Him and you want more of Him in your
life. Do you like the Lord? Have you tasted Him recently?
Why did David greatly desire to seek after the Lord?
He explained, For in the time of trouble He shall hide
me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall
He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock (Ps. 27:5).
When you begin tasting of the Lord, He takes care of your
problems in life. You hide in Him because you are sheltered by Him. Many of your problems evaporate because
most are perceptual in nature. When you taste of God,
you find that not many things in life are really worth worrying about, after all. So, set aside food, taste of the Lord;
and hide yourself in His presence. If problems have been
stalking you lately, seek the Lord.
A taste is an experiment. What do you do when you see
some food that youre not sure you will like? You taste a
26
TASTING
little bite, not a full bite, to experiment with it. When Im
served Mexican food, I am always afraid that it includes
too much Jalepeno pepper, and I dont like the taste of
hot. So if its a Mexican dish, I sample just a little bit
and hang on to my water glass in case I need to wash it
down. What am I doing? I am experimenting.
You may be fasting for your first time. Youre not
sure what will happen to your feelings. You have felt hungry before and didnt like experiencing hunger pains, so
you got something to eat. Maybe on the way home from
work, you stopped for a hamburger because you felt you
couldnt make it home without a little bit of food. Fasting
scares you.
Then you decide to experiment. You fast for one day
and you make it through that day without any problem.
When you spend time with God in prayer, you find that a
new spiritual hunger replaces the old physical desire.
When a boy goes to pick up a girl for a date, he doesnt
stop for a hamburger on the way to her house. Hes got
other things on his mind. The girl is more important
than food. When a young father goes to see his newborn
at the hospital for the first time, he doesnt delay the visit
to eat. No! When youre excited about a date, or the first
sight of a baby, or anything you love; you lose your appetite for food. Likewise, you fast because youre more
anxious to feed on spiritual things than to eat physical
food.
When you begin experimenting with fasting, slowly
you begin to lose your appetite for physical food because
27

you are tasting the Lord. You begin to eat His goodness,
and to enjoy His presence, because the first taste is a
good taste. Lord, I want more.
Tasting activates your recessive memory. I know what to
expect when I see potato saladI anticipate pleasure.
The same thing happens with certain other foodsmy
memory kicks in so that I enjoy it before I taste it. I love
small sweet garden peas that my mother used to grow in
her garden and Kentucky Wonder snap beans. When I see
them, my mouth waters in anticipation because I remember how good they are. But then again, not all memories
are good memories. I can pass over spinach if there are
other vegetables on the table. My memory tells me that
spinach is strawy, the same with broccoli, cauliflower, and
asparagus. Ill eat them but I dont necessarily like or dislike them.
My taste memory sends a different alarm through my
whole body at other things. My mother used to force me
to take castor oil every spring and every fall. Her theory
was every young boy needs a good cleaning out twice a
yearkind of like changing oil in a car. So whether I was
sick or not, she would pour a large tablespoonful of castor oil, grab me by the nose so I would open my mouth to
breathe, and then shove it in. I hated it every time, and
for days couldnt get that lingering taste of castor oil out
of my memory. Just the smell of it made me gag. If she
tried to get me to sip it, even a little bit, I would never let
it happen. Your taste memory sends you messages about
what is good, and that which is repulsive.
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TASTING
After youve tasted the Lord, you remember He is
good, His ways are good, and when you follow Him, your
life is good. So you fast to taste His presence, anticipating
that He will meet you and talk with you. Lord, forgive me for
pushing You into the back room of my mind.
Taste can be developed. When I was a small boy, I just
knew I didnt like chicken noodle soup and wouldnt
even taste it. I would look into the pot on the stove and
see little globules of greasy chicken fat on the top of the
soup, and think, Yuck! From that first perception, even
the smell of chicken noodle soup was repulsive. It wasnt
as bad as castor oil, but it was bad! Then one cold rainy
day, Mother gave me a dime and sent me to the corner
store to buy two cans of soup, a nickel a can. One can of
chicken noodle soup for her, and one can of vegetable
soup for me.
After the soup was warmed and served, she put a
spoonful in her mouth and exclaimed, M-m-m-m good!
I listened and thought it cant be that good. But every
time she put a spoonful in her mouth, she responded,
M-m-m-m good! Some of you may remember when
Campbell Soup used the slogan, M-m-m-m good, M-m-m-mgood. Ive often thought, They got it from my mother.
Wanna taste a spoonful? she asked. And for some
reason, my obstinate will that day gave in. Okay. One
taste was all it took. This is good. My glowing eyes revealed to Mother I liked chicken noodle soup. Guess what
happened? She gave me another nickel and I rode my bicycle through the rain to get my own personal can of
29

chicken noodle soup. I developed a taste for chicken noodle soup and today I love it.
People who hate God can acquire a taste for Him. All
it takes is a small taste of His goodness, and theyre
hooked for life. Are you hooked?
When I was president of Winnipeg Bible College,
Canada, in the early 1960s, one of the board members,
Mr. Hugh McKennon, the owner of a large Canadian tea
company, would take me to lunch periodically to discuss
the business of Winnipeg Bible College. One day while
eating in a distinguished hotel, the waiter mentioned to
Mr. McKennon, We serve your brand of tea in our hotel.
Mr. McKennon smiled politely, but as soon as the
waiter left he said, This is not our tea, and he went on
to explain what country the tea came from, and how
many thousands of feet in elevation the tea grew. He was
a tea taster who could distinguish the kind of tea, the
country where it was grown, and its elevation.
Wow, I thought this was an extraordinary ability.
Then he shocked me by saying, I can teach you to be a
tea taster
He continued to discuss how I could acquire the
taste to become a tea taster, but I never took him up on
his offer. I was busy in the Lords work and wanted to give
myself fully to ministry. Even so, he claimed I could have
acquired the skill of tea tasting. If you can acquire a physical ability to determine the differences between teas, why
cant you acquire the ability to determine the differences
30
TASTING
in your spiritual taste for God? O God, help me learn to know
when I am tasting Your best.
Your taste can be hidden or covered. When you drink
scalding coffee or bite a mouthful of crushed ice, you
suddenly lose your ability to taste anything. Immediately
after burning or freezing your mouth, its as though your
taste buds bail out so that you dont recognize anything in
your mouth. The food is neither good nor bad; you dont
know what it is because youve destroyed your taste buds.
In the same manner, when you put sin in your
mouth, what happens to your taste for God? Like boiling
hot water, you scald the inside of your mouth so that you
taste nothing. You might even compare the more vile sin
to the hottest boiling water. And of course you know the
hotter the water, the more damage it does to your mouth.
Have you damaged your spiritual taste buds? O God, grow
a new appetite in my heart to love and serve You more.
There is no taste for something youve never tried. Sometimes youre puzzled when you look at certain foods on
your plate. Your taste buds dont kick in because youve
never seen this food before. Nothing happens. There is
no recessive memory to which your taste can relate. You
dont know if whats on your plate is good or vile because
you have never tasted it.
Some people have no desire to fast because theyve
never tried it. They think giving themselves to God is the
worst choice they could make because they will have to
give up their friends, their drinks, their fleshly activities,
and their sinful amusements. These people are not ready
31

to make the trade to give up the world for Jesus Christ.
Just as youre not aware of the taste of food that youve
never tried, they dont know how satisfying Jesus Christ
can be. Are you afraid to give all to Jesus Christ? Then
give up food, fast to know Him better. Lord, I will fast to
know You.
Taste is a trigger. What is a trigger? Something that
sets off a reaction or a chain of events. The trigger of a
gun sets off an explosion, and the trigger to a trap leads
to a capture.
Your taste can trigger physical reactions in your
body. As soon as I take a taste of watermelon to find out
that its sweet and juicy, my mouth waters for more.
Sometimes taste will make us hungrier than we think
we are. Other times, a repulsive taste can make us gag or
even actually throw up. Even if were actually hungry, we
lose our appetite to eat.
Taste also triggers mental pictures or associational
connections. When I taste stuffed baked pork chops, I remember the way my mother-in-law, Mrs. E.B. Forbes
cooked them. And when I taste stuffed bell peppers, I remember the way Mrs. Lawrence Schultz in Winnipeg,
Canada, prepared them. Meatloaf causes me to think of
the Cracker Barrel Restaurant and egg custard makes me
remember my mothers favorite dessert.
When you taste the Lord, it triggers various reactions
in your heart. Sometimes, when you fast, God lays it upon
your heart to intercede for a lost relative. Other times,
fasting triggers your desire to study the Word, and still at
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TASTING
other times, fasting triggers your desire to worship,
praise, and magnify the Lord. Sometimes, you will remember a sermon that you heard, and again apply the
message to your heart. At other times, a person will pop
into your mind as you fast, so youll pray for that person.
One of the greatest associational triggers that occur
when I fast is Bible insight. As I am fasting and studying
the Word, I see lessons in Scripture that I have never
thought about before. God reveals to me meanings from
the Bible with new applications for my life. Lord, use my
fasting to know You better.
33
To Take Away
When God created people, He gave them the ability
to taste. It protected them or helped them stay away from
poisonous or harmful food. But it also gave people enjoyment in life. Isnt God good to give us enjoyment from
something so simple as putting fuel in our bodies to
strengthen us and help us to function? Eating could have
been as perfunctory as pouring gasoline into the tank of
a car. It would have met a basic need but given us very little physical pleasure. However, God gave us the wonderful
ability to taste foods like ice cream. Isnt He a wonderful
Creator? Why dont you stop now to thank Him.
Maybe God gave us the ability to taste so we could ultimately understand what it means to enjoy Himnot to
be scared of Him, or to simply obey Him, or study Him;
but so that we would anticipate Him, and understand
Him. And just as we enjoy food, we would enjoy Him. Ah,
its good to rest in You.
If you like God, why dont you tell Him now!
34
TASTING
NOTES
35
36
Chapter 3
WAITING
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him (Psalm
37:7).
Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh
my salvation (Psalm 62:1).
Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious
unto youblessed are all they that wait for Him (Isaiah 30:18).
ost Christians today have lost the virtue of waiting.

We have instant food, instant access computers,
instant banking, instant everything. Our cell phones
allow us to reach anybody from anywhere immediately.
We seldom have to wait. We can fly across the continent
or around the world, quickly. I left Virginia on a Monday,
spoke in Thailand on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday,
and was back in my classes in Lynchburg, Virginia, on
Friday. In a world that says hurrynowimmediate
37

urgentbottom line; what can the art of waiting teach
us? We can learn the goodness of God. The Lord is good
unto them that wait for Him (Lam. 3:25). Lord, here I am.
We all know that God is good because weve heard it
said many times. Children are taught at a young age to
pray before meals, God is great, God is good But a lot
of people dont know how good God is because theyve
not actually experienced the goodness of God. Perhaps
you dont think that God is good. Maybe its because you
havent been waiting on Him.
Waiting is a school. You can learn many things while
you are waiting. For example, you can study human nature by stopping to watch people go by. The great thing
about waiting is that you see many things you would have
missed if you had not been waiting. When you wait on
God, you will discover many things youve never known
before. Fasting is an excellent time to wait on God to experience His goodness. Those who continue to wait before God will learn, The Lord is good unto them that
wait for Him. Waiting is also a time to learn about worship, adoring, and trusting. Waiting is a school where we
can learn about God Himself.
What do you want when you wait on God? Most of us
wait for God because we want Him to give us something.
Like children waiting for Christmas, we are anxious to
know whats in the packages. Will we get a toy to entertain
us? Or will we get clothes to warm us? Maybe well get perfume to make us smell good, or candy to stuff us. When
you wait for God, are you waiting for His gifts? Or, are you
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WA I T I N G
waiting for Him? Lord, teach me to wait on You.
Have you thought why God may withhold His gifts
from you? Maybe youve not been serious when you wait
on God, like a child who fusses and pitches a temper
tantrum waiting for Christmas. The impatient child doesnt
understand the mystery of Christmas, nor does he enter
into the proper spirit of waiting. God may not answer
your prayers immediately because you are more interested in His gifts than you are in God Himself. However, the
more you fast, the more serious you become about God.
And when you have fasted two or three days, you reveal
that youre changing from a restless, irritable child to
one who is deeply interested in and earnestly seeking
God.
Waiting binds you to the gift and the giver. Yes, waiting
makes you focus on the contents of a package, but waiting also teaches you to think about the giver. It binds you
to the one who gives the gifts. Therefore, as you quietly
wait on God, think of entering into His goodness, think
of entering into His presence. Then, the exercise of waiting becomes attractive to you because you get something
for waiting. You get God. Lord, bind my heart on You.
The expectancy of waiting. Is there a purpose to your
waiting? When you wait on God, are you waiting for Him
to do something or are you waiting to tell Him something? Or is it best when to just wait for God Himself?
When a young man goes on a date with his sweetheart, most of the time he doesnt care where they eat or
what they do, he just wants to be with her. In the same
39

way, she doesnt care where they go, she just wants to be
with him. The greatest thing about waiting is expectancy.
What do you expect when you wait on God? Lord, I expect
to know You better.
Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for
the God of my salvation: my God will hear me (Mic. 7:7).
What does it mean to expect something? It means you are
on the lookout, you focus your ears to listen, and you
train your eyes to see. Expectancy is to anticipate something. You hold your breath, you prepare, you hope. Isnt
hope a good word? Growing your hope is the very essence
of waiting on God. When you hope in God, it means you
believe God will help you and will one day return for you.
You know that God is the One who calls the things that
are not as though they were (see Rom. 4:17). When you
expectantly wait on Him, it builds up both hope and
faith. You should enjoy waiting on God because your faith
grows while waiting. Lord, I want You.
The art of waiting. You can learn how to wait. Its an
art. Consider children waiting for Christmas Day. Some of
them sneak to check the packages. Others try to pry the
answer out of a parent. Still others fidgetsquirmand
some cant sleep at night.
What parent would give into his children by letting
them open their gifts on December 12? Thats not the
way its done. If you open your gifts early, you destroy the
whole nature of Christmas. Waiting is an art, and children
must learn the art of waiting until Christmas Day to get
their gifts.
40
WA I T I N G
In the same way, waiting on God is an art that can be
discovered and perfected. Do you have trouble finding
time to wait on God? Thats quite normal, for the natural
person is a self-centered person, fulfilling selfish needs.
Christianity is intentional; you must choose God and deny
yourself (see Lk. 9:23). Spirituality is intentional; you must
decide to seek God and sacrifice selfish pursuits. So decide now to wait on God. Lord, make me wait on You.
Why should you wait in Gods presence? When you learn
the secret art of waiting, you will find the heart of God.
Someone has said we become holy when we learn to wait,
because we become like God. The Lord wait[s] that
He may be gracious unto you (Is. 30:18). Waiting is a
quality of God. We become like Him when we learn to
wait. Lord, I want to be like You.
Think about the farmer. He plants the seeds, then
waits for the harvest. There is not much he can do to
speed up growth from seed to harvest time. The Bible describes the farmer: waiting for the precious fruit of the
earth, and has long patience for it ( Jas. 5:7, authors translation). Just as you cannot gather fruit until it is ripe, so
there are prayers that God doesnt answer until He is
ready. So what must you do? Lord, teach me to wait.
And for what do you wait? Like the farmer, you are
waiting for the sunshine of Gods love to give life; youre
waiting for the rain of Gods blessing to give life; and
youre waiting for the seed to reach full fruit.
Timing is everything. When we talk about waiting,
were implying waiting for the right time. Sometimes God
41

waits to answer your prayers, because now is not the right
time. Maybe you need to learn more lessons. Maybe circumstances need to change. When you pray for a friend
or relative to get saved, it may take time for God to bring
someone into that persons life who will share the gospel,
or it may take time for that person to be convicted of
their sins. Timing is everything with God.
If God could wait 4,000 years until the fullness of
time to send His Son into the world, surely Hes not going
to hurry for you. Remember, you cant hurry God like
some of us try to hurry a slow waiter in a restaurant or
hurry a child who is grudgingly getting ready for school.
My times are in Your hands.
As you are waiting, remember that while God prepares to give you something, He will do it on His
timetable, not yours. God wants us to learn the lesson that
He is everything. So, the next time you are waiting on
God, remember that right around the corner may be the
greatest thing youve ever received in life. It may be that
God Himself will be there. Lord, Im waiting.
There are even more benefits you receive from waiting.
Maybe youve lost your strength in your recent dash to get
where youre at. Youve been running through life, running to work, running to home, and running to church.
Now, you need to take time to fast. Why? They that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength (Is. 40:31a).
What happens when you wait? You catch your breath,
your muscles rest, and your pulse returns to normal. Waiting on God renews your spiritual strength. Are you
42
WA I T I N G
drained? Then pray and wait on God while you fast. It will
renew your strength.
Notice some other things that happen when you wait
on God: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and
not faint (Is. 40:31). Wait on God and you will mount
upwalkrunand not faint. Is that what you need to
do? Then fast, and wait. Okay, Lord, Im here.
For since the beginning of the world men have not
heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye
seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for
him that waiteth for Him (Is. 64:4).
If you looked in a mirror, what would you see yourself doing as you wait upon God? Are you nervously tapping your fingers? Or, are you quietly waiting for Him?
The best way to wait on God isquietly. It is good that a
man shouldquietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
(Lam. 3:26). Lord, Im quiet.
Waiting quietly. When you fast, your physical system
slows down as you take a break from your normal life.
The best way to do that is to wait quietly. In quietness
and in confidence shall be your strength (Is. 30:15b).
I believe there is a close connection between quietness and faith. I have real questions about those who pray
loudly, demandingly, and brazenly. It is good that a man
shouldquietly wait (Lam. 3:26). Why? The Lord is in
His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before
Him (Hab. 2:20).
43

What does quiet mean? Its hard to fellowship with
God in a noisy restaurant; likewise, its difficult to have
your quiet time on a busy airplane or a commuter train.
This does not mean that you cannot meditate on God or
pray when people are around. You can talk to God at any
place. You can quiet your spirit anywhere. Lord, teach me
silence.
When you fast, find a quiet place where you can wait
on God alone. A quiet place to meditate, pray, and read
Scripture, a quiet place where you wont be interrupted.
In the stillness of your room, separate yourself from the
world and your family, then shut yourself up to God,
alone. Let the Word of God and prayer become very precious to you. Get still so you can hear the voice of God
speaking to you. Then, wait quietly before God; dont
even read the Bible, nor try to talk to Him. Its possible
that sometimes even reading, praying, and other spiritual
activities can get in the way of God Himself.
When God says, Be still, and know that I am God
(Ps. 46:10a), He wants you to be quiet, be still, and learn
something as you wait.
Consider that there is no stillness like the grave.
There is a special silence when you walk through the
graveyard and read the tombstones. Being there you feel
close to nature, perhaps because the area is so well manicured. It should also make us feel close to God because
visiting a cemetery reminds us that in death we are closer
to God than any other time of life. Believers buried in a
cemetery are as close to God as they can get.
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WA I T I N G
So when you wait on God, you build up your hope
that the Lord will come back for you. When you become
still before God, you learn to die daily to the cares of this
world. When you fast in His presence, you temporarily
put to death the appetites of the body, which is symbolic
of putting to death the appetites of sinful lust. As you
cease feeding your body, your soul becomes filled with
God. This is when you learn the lesson, Be still and know
that I am God (Ps. 46:10a).
Think of the disciples in the howling storm. Think of
the disciples fighting the threatening wavesblowing
windyellingfacing death. Then suddenly Jesus appears and says, Peace, be still (Mk. 4:39b). Instantly, not
a splashing wave was felt, not a whistling wind was heard.
Silencestillnessquietnessthats what happens when
you wait before Jesus, your Savior. Lord, I feel peaceful in
Your presence.
What does God do while you wait? Therefore will the
Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto youblessed are
all they that wait for Him (Is. 30:18). God waits for us as
we wait for Him. Why? He is waiting for us to recognize
Him, love Him, and worship Him. Hes waiting for us to
come to Him with the right attitude and for the right reasons. Lord, Im slowing down.
Have you ever thought that God may wait longer
than you expect, maybe because He wants to give you
twice as much as you expect? Sometimes you get anxious
when you wait. Maybe you dont like the way God is directing your life, and you dont like the way things are un45

folding. You impatiently pray like Isaiah, Oh that Thou
wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come
down (Is. 64:1a). You want God to ride in on a white
horse and kill all the bad men. You want God to split
Heaven to reveal Himself to you. If He cant do that, then
you want Him to instantly make you a millionaire, like
participating on a popular television game show. Notice
what Isaiah wanted God to do: When Thou didst terrible
things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the
mountains flowed down at Thy presence (Is. 64:3). You,
like Isaiah, would like God to flow down the mountains to
straighten things out.
You need to know that the God you are complaining
about is the same God who sent the ten terrible plagues
on Pharaoh in Egypt. He was waiting for the right time to
deliver His people. He is also the same God who waited
patiently for 400 years between the Old and New Testament. Not a sound was heard out of Heaven in those 400
years. Why? God was waiting for the right time to send His
Son to earth. Maybe God is waiting for the right time to
do something in your life? Lord, teach me patience.
Maybe you think you can get God to answer sooner
if you shout louder. Maybe you think you can get God to
jump if you pray longer. Maybe you think the solution is
to get the whole church to fast and pray. God is still the
same God today as He was during Bible times. He hasnt
changed His nature, and He hasnt changed the way He
does things. God alone knows what He can do by waiting,
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WA I T I N G
and God knows what He can do by getting you to wait. So,
why dont you fastslow downand wait on God?
The fact that God is waiting on you is an unspeakable
blessing that ought to motivate you to the highest form of
worship. The God of the universe is waiting on you.
47
To Take Away
Why is it that most of us hate to wait for service, for
events, for people, for anything? Thats an interesting
question. When you answer it, youve analyzed why most
people dont wait on God.
Maybe people dont like to wait because theyre an
on-time person. Theyve been trained to never be late
for anything. Because they never run not late, they dislike
anyone or anything thats late. Is that why you dont like
to wait on God? If so, analyze yourself. When you dont
wait on God, youre saying your habits are more important than God. You dont want to interrupt your way of
doing thingsbeing on timeto actually wait on God.
Surrender your habits to God and wait on Him.
Maybe people dont like to wait because time is
money. They think valuable time and money are wasted
when waiting on God. But what about sacrifice? Arent
Christians supposed to put Jesus First? Arent Christians
supposed to surrender everything to God? If youve yielded everything to Him, then run your life by His timetable.
Wait on God.
Still other people dont like to wait because they are
activity driven. They get bored just waiting around. But
think again. Waiting is not just a zeroa stopa nothing.
Waiting is active; it involves every part of your being
your mind, emotions, and the decision to do it. When
youre waiting, youre learning Godgrowing in Christ
becoming transformed.
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WA I T I N G
There are others who hate to wait because theyre
selfish. They think the world revolves around them and
refuse to inconvenience themselves for others. Ah! This
person needs to understand that the essence of Christianity is putting Christ first. For to me to live is Christ
(Phil. 1:21a). When Jesus becomes the passion of your
life, you want to wait on Him. So if Jesus has control of
your life, wait on Him.
49
NOTES
50
WA I T I N G
51
52
Chapter 4
COMING
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon
you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls
(Matthew 11:28-29).
s a young boy I remember playing till suppertime,

then Id hear my mother call, Elmer Since not
many boys were named Elmer, I knew it meant me. I usually dropped what I was doing to run home.
Even at times when my mother didnt use my name,
I never confused her voice with the voices of other mothers calling their sons. While I couldnt always distinguish
the voices of other older women, I always knew my own
mothers voice. I had grown up obeying it. I could tell
when she was angry and about to punish me. I also could
tell when she had something good waiting for me. The
53

suppertime call was a good call, so I usually dropped what
I was doing to go home.
If I happened not to respond immediately, her good
call to supper became her irritated call. Then I quickly
obeyed before it became an angry call.
There were several reasons why I usually answered
her call immediately: partially trainingshe taught me to
come; partly fearI didnt want a spanking; partially
loveI wanted to please my mother. But mostly it was
hunger. I obeyed the supper call for food. My mother was
the best cook in the neighborhood. At lunchtime all the
guys played around my house because they loved my
mothers cooking and she loved to feed boys.
But suppertime meant every boy went home to eat.
Thats what I did. When mother called, I went home to
eat.
This chapter is about answering the call of the Lord. How
do you respond when the Lord calls you? Do you come
immediately, or must He call several times before you
make a move? Do you come because of fearor because
of loveor because of training? Or do you come when
He calls because you want to eat at His table? Do you
enjoy Gods food?
Fasting is not so much about leaving earthly food as
it is about coming to the Lords Table to enjoy His fellowship, to eat His food, to know Him intimately. Lord, Im
hungry.
Most people begin fasting by focusing on what they
wont dowont eat, wont enjoy food, wont go to a
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COMING
restaurant. However, fasting shouldnt be a negation. Not
eating is just dieting. Rather, fasting is an affirmationwhat
you will do. So what do you do positively when you fast?
Fasting is coming to Jesus. When you fast, you come
to the Lord Jesus, leaving behind the natural world with
its requirements of food, enjoyment, physical repletion,
and restoration of energy. Jesus is calling you to Himself.
When you fast, you have obeyed the call of Jesus and you
come to Him. Lord, here I come.
Jesus expects you to come. Sometimes people say, Come
over to our house sometime, or Drop over sometime.
Its a nice way to end a conversation, but they dont really expect you to come. Jesus, however, is different. When
He invites you to come, He truly looks forward to your
arrival, and when you get there, He will welcome you.
Jesus is glad when you come to Him.
Will you be disappointed when you come to Jesus? There
are many people in the world who are disappointed about
Jesus Christ. Some have never really come to Him because of the faulty information they have heard about
Jesus Christ. They have never actually come to Him based
on the principles of the Bible. Theyve been frustrated by
their trials, sufferings, or even their failure to avoid temptation. Why are some people disappointed in Jesus?
Theyve probably never fully understood the word come.
Some people only come halfway to Jesus, but in this
way they will never experience holding Him intimately.
And, of course, who isnt disappointed in a hug when the
other person doesnt hug back? Others come to Jesus
55

while clutching their prized possessions behind their
back. They will not give everything to Jesus; as a result,
they too are disappointed because He cannot bless them
or use them. Jesus wont bless the things we withhold
from Him.
Then again, there are others who walk backwards
into His presence, not looking into His face, nor enjoying
His fellowship. They have something to hide, so these too
are disappointed in Jesus.
Next, some people answer Jesus invitation to
come but rush right pass Him, instead of approaching
Him. Why? Maybe they look for other pleasures in life, or
the next thrilling weekend. However, you will never be
satisfied with Jesus unless you come to Him and wait in
His presence. To be completely satisfied with Jesus Christ
means you fully understand the word come, you sincerely
acted upon it, and you obeyed it exactly as He commanded. When He said come, you came.
Still there are other people who are disappointed because they come for something other than Him. Some
come for musicthey enjoy singing. Some come for academic stimulationlessons in the Bible. And others
come out of habit. Do you remember the last time you entered the presence of Jesus? What did you experience,
and how did you feel? Were you glad that you came to
Jesus and did He keep His word? Will He receive you with
open arms this time? Lord, I know Youll receive me. When
you honestly come to Jesus, you will never be disappointed with Him. As a matter of fact, there is nothing fuller
56
COMING
than coming to Jesus, there is nothing richer than that
encounter. There is nothing in the world like meeting
Jesus Christ. Why do you come to Jesus? I come to You,
Lord, because I love You.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus invites you to come? Its
hard to believe that Jesus is serious about the invitation.
Why does He ask you to come to Him? What can you do
for Him that He cant do for Himself? Nothing. Are you
good enough to come to Him or fellowship with Him?
No. All have sinned (Rom. 3:23a). All we like sheep
have gone astray (Is. 53:6a). So why would He call you?
The only explanation is because of something inside
HimselfHis principle of grace. He gives you the exact
opposite of what you deserve. You deserve punishment
for your disobedience, but He gives you His presence.
Why? Jesus gives you what He desires for you to have. He
loves us even while we are unlovely. Lord, I want all You
have for me.
What happens when you come to Jesus? He will open His
arms to you. Have you ever been hugged by Jesus? Then
He will open His heart to you. Have you ever been loved
by Jesus? Then He opens His life and strength to you.
Have you ever been empowered by Jesus? When Jesus
says, Come, He opens His presence. There you will experience the meaning of life that you will not encounter
anywhere else. Lord, I come to know You.
Why do people actually come? Some come because they
are lonely and want fellowship with God. Is that why you
come? Some come because they are lost and searching
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for God. When they hear His invitation to come, they respond. Others are suffering under sinits such a cruel
taskmasterso it is easy for them to repent and come to
Jesus. He is a loving Master. Others come because of
Jesus self-sacrifice on the cross. What else could they do
but come to Him because He died for them? Still others
come because they are addicted in miserable bondage to
sin whether drugs, alcohol, or sex. When Jesus says,
Come, His word is the release of freedom to break
through their slavery. Finally, there are some who come
because they want to go to Heaven. They want to spend
eternity in the presence of God. So when Jesus says,
Come, they come to Him for eternal life.
Have you fully come into His presence? When Jesus invites you to come, do you stand in the doorway? Some
come to Jesus, but they wont go all the way into the
housethey stand outside the door. Still others enter, but
remain in the front hall. What good is it to obey the
Kings invitation, but not go all the way into the Kings
presence? When Jesus invites you to come it isnt to enter
the basement, nor is it to go to a shack in the backyard.
He says, Come unto Me. He wants you to come all the
way into His presence. Have you been there lately? Obey
His invitation and enter the full life that He offers.
When Jesus says, Come, He means for you to come
to Him in the daytimein the nighttimeall the time.
When Jesus say, Come, He requires a total commitment
of your time. Just as you cant enter a house and leave
part of yourself outside at the same time, you cant come
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COMING
to Jesus and leave part of your life outside. He will enable
you to come and give you the strength to do it. He wants
all of your life. Lord, here I come.
How should you come to Jesus? When you come to Jesus,
you must come humbly and expectantly like Mary, who
also sat at Jesus feet, and heard His word (Lk. 10:39b).
Why dont you sit down at the feet of Jesus, look up into
His loving eyes, and wait for Him to speak to you? Like
Mary who sat at His feet to learn from Him, you need to
listen to His holy voice. Jesus has something to say to you
and you need to hear it now.
The promise of rest. When Jesus says, Come, he twice
repeats the promise of rest. First, He says, Come unto Me,
I will give you rest. This is the rest of salvation. Second he
says, Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me and ye
shall find rest. This is the rest of victory over sin.
When you first come to Jesus you immediately receive restinstant forgiveness of sin with immediate
peace that comes from salvation. This first rest is pardon.
You rest in Him because you have been forgiven.
Ye shall find rest is the second rest. This is a rest
you must look for and find. While Jesus gives the first rest,
you must do something to gain the second rest. This second
rest is acquired when you learn how to overcome daily
temptation. Not all of Gods children have this second
rest because it is something you must attain. It is found
only upon entire surrender and commitment to Jesus
Christ. Lord, I surrender all.
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Many people come to the first rest in salvation. God
forgives their sins, gives them eternal life, and they begin
walking with Jesus Christ. But they are not careful about
the ongoing influence of sin. Rather than being horrified
at the thought of disobeying God, they find the beauty of
temptation attractive. Before they know it, they no longer
enjoy the second rest in Jesus victory over sin. Why? They
are sinning. What must they do to find that rest again?
Jesus says, Take My yoke, and learn of Me. You must do
two things: You must take and you must learn. These are
the conditions of discipleship, and when you become a
disciple you find the second rest.
The second rest is not something that you can attain
apart from Jesus. Even though some try to experience
rest by other means, they will never be fulfilled until they
search for Jesus. When you get Jesus and Jesus gets you,
you find rest. What do you really want in life? Rest! Who
gives it to you? Jesus!
Many young believers have not laid hold of this truth
about the second rest, and so they continue to live defeated lives. They dont understand that the Christian life is
wrestlingrunningbattlingand getting victory in
Jesus, in order to enjoy His peace. Their life is spiritually
useless. The longer you stay in a useless condition, the
more you get used to it, and soon, much of your life has
passed away.
When Jesus says, Come, is it a command or an invitation? Is He commanding you to come to Him, as an army
officer might use His authority to command a recruit? Or
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COMING
is His an invitation of love because He knows you are
tired and needy? Both are true. When you are tired of sin,
He kindly invites you to come for forgiveness. At the same
time, He is a military officer who commands you as a disciple to come and be trained for service and battle.
The Word of God has been described as a small
voice but yet His voice can be mightier than the storm
that breaks rocks into pieces. His Word is the hammer that
crushes the hardest of hearts. But when you hear Him say
come, its not an angry voice, but a gentle command. It is
Jesus saying, Abide in Me. Lord, Im comfortable.
When the Lord says, Come, how close can you can get to
Him? His invitation to come offers you the unique closeness that only a child can have with his father. His word
come offers you the intimacy of fellowship with Him that
the world doesnt understand. The word come also includes knowing the wonders of life and the purpose you
can have in Jesus Christ.
When you surrender yourself to Jesus and come to
Him, you will not be concerned with the loss of your life,
or the abandoning of your ambitions. For you have everything to gain. You are acquiring an unspeakable privilege
of knowing Jesus Christ and intimately abiding in Him.
Lord, Im taking my first step to You.
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To Take Away
When I played ball as a young boy, two of the bigger
guys would pick their teams from all the smaller guys who
came to play. I was usually among the last chosen because
I was one of the smallest.
When one of the big guys finally pointed to me and
said, Come over here, adrenaline shot through my system. I jumpedI yelledand I smiled a lot. I slapped
hands with my teammates; it was warming to be included
on the team. Its a wonderful feeling to be chosen; its
comforting to hear the invitation, Come.
Because I was honored by the captains choice, I determined to do my very best, to give my team 100 percent
effort. I was so glad to be called. I never complained
about being called last, nor did I ever give a halfhearted
effort because I wasnt called first. As a matter of fact, I
was so delighted with being called, that I determined to
work harder than anyone else on the team. Even though
I wasnt the largest boy, the most talented, or the first
called, I gave it my best every time, all the time. Should
we do less for God who calls us? Never hang back. Get on
the team as fast as you can. Faithful is He that calleth
you, who also will do it (1 Thess. 5:24).
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COMING
NOTES
63
64
Chapter 5
DRINKING
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life ( John 4:14).
He that believeth on Me shall never thirst ( John
6:35b).
hen Jesus went through Samaria, a country racially different from His Jewish heritage, He stopped
at a well, tired and famished. The original language suggests He slumped into a seat, completely exhausted. The
disciples had traveled on into town to buy hamburgers.
While they were gone, a woman came at noonday to draw
water from the well, which was contrary to the other
women who came either in the cool of the morning or the
evening. Jesus said to her, Give Me some water to drink.
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The woman was surprised at His request for two reasons. First, a man would not speak to a woman; and second, a Jew would never associate with a Samaritan. When
the woman of Samaria questioned why Jesus, a Jew, would
ask a drink from her, He answered, If you knew the gift
of God, and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink,
you would have asked Him, and He would have given you
living water ( Jn. 4:10 NKJV). In His answer, Jesus used
water to suggest his offer of spiritual satisfaction. Just as a
person needs to drink physical water in order to live, so
must he drink living water of Jesus in order to gain eternal life. Just as a person enjoys a cool drink of water when
he is tired or thirsty, so can he enjoy the satisfaction of
everlasting water that Jesus offers to the weary soul.
The woman protested, saying that Jesus didnt have a
bucket or rope, and that the well was deep. She was still
thinking about physical water. Jesus continued to explain
spiritual satisfaction, But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water
that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life ( Jn. 4:14). In His answer,
Jesus suggested that those who drink from Him will (1)
never thirst again, and (2) will have a well springing up in
them from which they and others could drink.
Fasting is drinking from Gods presence. There are two
basic types of fasts: First, there is the absolute fast when
you dont eat any solid foods or drink any liquids; the
second is a normal fast, where you do not eat any solid
foods, but drink water, juices, or other liquids. When you
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DRINKING
are fasting to God, you put away solid foods to eat of Jesus
who is the Bread of Life. In your normal fast you may
drink water or juice, but make sure that your primary passion is to drink from the Eternal Well of Salvation. To
know God passionately, you must drink of Him when you
seek Him through fasting. Drinking can direct you to the
presence of God.
Drinking for enjoyment and satisfaction. When the
woman came to the well to get natural water, Jesus told
her He could give her living water. She thought He was
offering some kind of magical water so shed never thirst
again and never have to come to the well again. She was
searching for physical satisfaction. The woman had been
married five times and was presently living with a man
who was not her husband. She was still searching for the
perfect mate and still had not found happiness in marriage. Jesus told her that she could find ultimate satisfaction in Him. Have you come to Jesus and are you
perfectly satisfied with Him?
The most wonderful thing about fasting is that you
set aside food so you can focus on being completely satisfied with Jesus Christ. Then you can say with Paul, For to
me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil. 1:21). Pauls
greatest passion was Jesus Christ. That I may know Him,
and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of
His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death
(Phil. 3:10). When you fast, you learn to enjoy Jesus
Christ, and you want to become like Him. Lord, I want to
be satisfied with You.
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Drinking to quench your thirst. When I was a boy, I went
camping with a group on Causten Bluff, one of the sea islands off the Georgia coast. We were able to walk out to
the island at low tide, but when the tide came in, we were
stranded on the island. We had brought our boy scout
camping gear and planned to cook an evening meal and
breakfast the next morning. That night around the campfire, we got a hankering for hot chocolate. We had seen
our mothers mix chocolate with water to make cocoa, so
we did the same thing. We poured Hersheys Chocolate
into water and brought it to a boil over an open fire. But
when we tried to drink it, the bitter taste turned our
mouths inside out. We didnt realize that we also needed
powdered milk and sugar to make cocoa.
Then we discovered that we had made a really terrible mistakewe mixed all our water with chocolate so
that the only water we had left to drink was bitter. There
was no fresh water on the island, and we couldnt get to
the mainland at high tide. Fortunately, we hadnt made a
second mistake by throwing the bitter chocolate water
away. I was thirsty the next morning and tried a little bit
of the cocoa water, but spat it out. As the morning
stretched on, and the sun grew hotter, it seemed liked the
tide took forever to go out. Before we were able to leave
the island, we were willing to drink bitter chocolate water
because we were so thirsty.
Have you ever been thirsty, so thirsty you would
drink dirty water from a mud puddle? Probably not. To
do that, you would have to be extremely thirsty. What
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DRINKING
about spiritually thirsty? Have you ever been so spiritually thirsty for God that you couldnt stand it? Have you
said, I must have a drink of water from Jesus Christ because only He satisfies? When everything in your life
tastes like bitter chocolate water, drink the refreshing
water given by Jesus Christ. Lord, You are refreshing.
Drinking for strength. One of the reasons you drink
water is for physical strength. When you fast for God, you
may lose a little physical strength, but you gain spiritual
strength. As a high school boy I used to race bicycles 20
and 50 miles in a day. To give me strength, Mother would
make a large milkshake of milk, raw eggs, vanilla, and
sugar for me to drink. It was quite enjoyable. With five or
six raw eggs and almost a quart of milk in me, I had
enough strength to race 20 miles at breakneck speed
without stopping.
When you drink of Jesus Christ, He gives you spiritual strength to make it through the troubles of the day.
When you give up earthly food and drink of Jesus Christ,
you get spiritual strength. Its then you learn, I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me (Phil.
4:13).
What happens when you dont get enough water?
Sometimes your head gets light, or dizzy; sometimes you
faint. Maybe you used to follow Jesus, but somewhere along
the road you fainted. You stopped following Jesus. Now,
you need a drink of water from Jesus. Drink! He will renew
your strength to start living the Christian life again.
Drinking to keep from dying. Only a few are able to go
more than two or three days without water. However,
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their physical pain becomes so daunting that theyre unable to pray with a clear mind or a focused spirit. You
should not try an absolute fast for more than three days.
You will dehydrate, your digestive system will stop functioning properly, and lack of water in your system will
cause permanent damage to the membranes of your
brain. While some may endure a few more than seven
days without water, they permanently harm their body.
So, be very careful when you fast without water. Lord, just
as natural water gives me life, give me Your well of water that
springs up into everlasting life.
Drinking moistens your mouth so you can talk. Sometimes you cant talk properly because your mouth feels
like cotton. A dry mouth makes it difficult to say anything. What about spiritually? With a dry mouth you have
difficulty praying to God. What must you do? You must
drink from Jesus Christ so your mouth is refreshed to
pray. Lord, refresh me.
Jonathan Edwards had written a sermon that he felt
would make an impact upon his church. He promised
God that he would keep an absolute fast (no water) for
three days before preaching the sermon. He spent His
time praying for Gods power upon the sermon. At approximately four oclock on Sunday afternoon, two hours
from ending his fast, Jonathan Edwards began to choke
and gag. He knew he couldnt preach, and he felt he
would die from choking. So he violated his fast and drank
water. That night he was a broken man as he ascended
the steps to the pulpit. He was devastated in his lack of
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DRINKING
self-discipline to carry the fast through until sundown.
Holding a kerosene lamp in one hand and the sermon in
the other, he read Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God. And
the Spirit of God poured forth on his listeners, so much
so, that they grabbed the post of the church, thinking
they were slipping into hell. That sermon began the First
Great Awakening and revival swept through the 13
colonies. It wasnt the fast that God had used, God
anointed the brokenness of Jonathan Edwards so that one
sermon touched Colonial America. Lord, what will it take
to break me?
When you fast, you come to Jesus Christ to drink of
Him. He gives you the ability to pray to Him, as well as the
power to speak for Him. Have you been praying lately but
cant get through? Try refreshing your mouth by drinking
of Himfast.
If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.
He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water ( John
7:37b-38).
How can you drink of Him? In the exhortation above,
Jesus first tells you to come to Him. Are you thirsty? Then
come to Jesus Christ. How do you do that? You come to
Him through prayer, simply by bowing your head and
talking to Him. You come to Him by listening to His
Word. You do that by reading what He tells you in the
Bible. You come to Him by confessing so He can restore
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fellowship with you and you can enter into His presence.
If you are far away, why dont you take a first step to Him
now? Lord, here I come.
The second exhortation in this Scripture from Jesus
is to drink. You dont need to be told how to drink. First,
you see a cup of water and you know you want it. Then
you reach out for it with your hand. Next, you lift the cup
to your lips and tilt it so that the water flows down into
your mouth. Then, you swallow and enjoy. Lord, Your water
is good.
So how does that illustration of drinking apply to
you? You first see Jesus Christ in the Word of God. Then
you reach out to Him as one reaches for a cup of water.
Take and receive Him by faith. As you drink of Jesus, you are
receiving Him into your life. But as many as received
Jesus Christ, those people become His children because
they believe on Him ( Jn. 1:12, authors translation). So
you see, receiving Jesus is believing on Him. And after
you take Him into your life, you can enjoy Him.
What should a person drink? As I was speaking to a
Southern Baptist ministers meeting, I mentioned that
my pastor drank black coffee when he fasted for 40 days.
You cant do that! a voice yelled out from the back
of the room. An elderly minister was belligerently trying
to tell me my pastor was wrong.
I smiled at what he was trying to say, and then I apologized for not making myself clear so that people could
understand me. Then I said again, My pastor drank
nothing but coffee when he fasted 40 days. The crotchety old man yelled out again, You cant do that!
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DRINKING
I apologized the second time for not making myself
clear and repeated the same statement again, My pastor
only drank black coffee when fasting for 40 days. Again
the man yelled out, You cant do that!
Then I corrected the man for his using a wrong
word. He had said that my pastor cant do that but he
should have said, He shouldnt do that. I reminded the
fussy old man that there are three rules you can apply to
drinking liquids when fasting.
First is the rule of non-nutrition. My pastor says you
shouldnt drink anything that is nutritious while fasting, and
to him, any type of juice is nutritious. He says that black coffee and Diet Pepsi (colored water) are non-nutritious. So
while my pastor fasts, he drinks black coffee and Diet
Pepsi.
The second rule is non-enjoyable. I dont feel you
should drink anything for enjoyment when you are fasting, and diet drinks are in that category for me. When I
fasted for 40 days, I drank a glass of orange juice in the
morning, and a glass of V-8 juice at night. I didnt deviate
to different kinds of juices, which would have been more
enjoyable, nor did I try to break a monotonous routine. I
drank only what I considered was necessary, but nothing
for enjoyment.
The rule of silence is the third rule. Its stated, If
God hasnt spoken, dont make rules. The fact is God
hasnt made rules concerning what you should drink
when you fast. At times of fasting, the Bible says people
drank water, at other times it just says they drank. It doesnt
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say what they drank, so I assume they could have drunk
milk, grape juice, or something else. Since God hasnt
made a rule about what to drink, we shouldnt make standard rules for everyone to obey
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DRINKING
To Take Away
A few will not drink anything when they fast (an absolute fast), which is perfectly acceptable. A few will
choose to drink some liquid when fasting. Let God lead
you. However, if youre a non-drinker, dont get super
spiritual, thinking the non-drinkers will get closer to
God than the drinkers. God doesnt look at whator how
muchgoes into the mouth. He looks at what comes out
of the heart. The secret of fasting is not withholding food
or water; its hungering and thirsting after righteousness
(see Mt. 5:6).
Lets conclude with the subject of drinking by pointing you to everlasting water so youll never thirst again.
Thats what Jesus promised (see Jn. 4:14). Fasting does
not automatically mean you drink of Him. Fasting will
make you thirsty for Him, but you must decide to drink.
How do you do that? By immersing yourself in Scripture,
by talking to Him, by meditating on Him, and by fellowshipping with Him.
All right, so youve begun a fast. Good! Now youre
thirsty for God. Okay. What do you do now? Drink!
75
NOTES
76
DRINKING
77
78
Chapter 6
DISCIPLINING
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not
as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body,
and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means,
when I have preached to others, I myself should be a
castaway (1 Corinthians 9:26-27).
ot too far from my home the Virginia Ten Miler is

run; this is obviously a ten-mile marathon. Over
four thousand runners come from all over the world because its a registered race, and competing in Lynchburg
gives them world rankings, qualifying them for other international races. I admire these runners because they
have a discipline I dont have.
When I was in high school, I could run ten miles, but
now at my age I can barely run the length of a concourse
at an airport to catch a plane. I had the ability but lost it.
I think I could get it back, but the price is too high. If I
79

gave time and energy to running, Id take time away from
writing, praying, and studying.
Fasting is a discipline, just like running. Fasting is a skill
to learn, an art to acquire, and an ability that needs to be
trained. Several comparisons can be drawn between acquiring the ability to run and acquiring the ability to fast.
Every fall when I see bronze bodiesperfectly fit
dash past me in their beautiful running outfits, I think, I
can do this. A lot of older men my age do it. Next year Ill do it.
Im absolutely sincere, and my decision is absolutely captivating. So every year I promise, Next year Ill run the
Ten Miler, but I never do it.
Discipline begins with a decision. Have you made a decision to pursue God? Have you made a decision to fast to
know God? Many people have made that decision and
they are absolutely sincere, but they never do it. Why?
Every race of ten miles begins with a decision to run, and
inherent in that decision to run is a second decision to
train.
My decision to run the Ten Miler never leads to my
running ten miles because I dont follow through with
trainingpracticeroutine. Hence, my decision is only a
dream. I didnt really decide to run ten miles, I only
dreamed about it. Doesnt the Bible say something about
Old men dreaming dreams?
Even though youve wanted to fast, youve never
done so because your decision to fast is only a dream.
When you finally begin your first day of fasting, its like
the first day of practice. My first day of running wouldnt
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DISCIPLINING
be very spectacular because I would only be able to run
the length of one block. One block seems like nothing
compared to ten miles and so Id get discouraged with
running and quit. Is that why you havent fasted yet? Fasted more? Fasted until youve gotten through to God?
Youve quit because youve gotten discouraged. Lord, give
me strength to go on.
The secret to fastinglike runningis the discipline of
daily follow-through. You have to establish a running schedule, a time, a place, and a distance. If you wait to run until
you find the extra time, youll never do it. Same with fasting. You must discipline yourself to fast, and followthrougha time, a purpose, a plan.
Future dreams are built on daily routines.

As you practice daily, youll build up your ability to
run well and to run farther. Youve got to run through
those bad practice sessions. Youve got to do it when you
dont feel like it.
You may feel like you accomplish little the first time
you fast. But dont obligate yourself to fast just once.
Commit yourself to the continual practice of fasting.
Youll get better at it and youll get more out of it. One
bad fasting dayheadache or internal painis no reason
to quit the discipline. The next time may be the easiest
time ever.
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The more you run, the farther you can run. The
same with fasting. After you get comfortable with the oneday Yom Kippur fast, try a 3-day fast. Then try a 7-day
fastor a 21-day fasta 40-day fast. However, let me
quickly add that the 40-day fast is quite severe. Dont do
this unless youre in good physical condition and you
have your physicians guidance. Even then, dont attempt
it unless you have clear evidence that God is telling you to
do so. Most believers dont need to do this. With our busy
schedules and complicated lives, most believers would accomplish more with a one-day fast each week for 40
weeks.
You must discipline yourself; God cannot do it for you. If
youre training to run the Ten Miler, you have to watch
what you eat, and develop a tough mental attitude about
your body. You must deny self, practice daily, and get the
right amount of sleep. Do you know what this sounds
like? It sounds very similar to the instructions that Jesus
gave to become one of His disciplined followers:
And He said to them all, If any man will come after
Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,
and follow Me (Luke 9:23).
Notice, this Scripture suggests you are responsible to
discipline yourself. Its not something you pray, God do
it for me It is something you must do for yourself. You
must deny yourself, you must take up your cross of difficulties, you must follow, and you must practice it daily.
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DISCIPLINING
Fasting is a discipline that will help you become a better
follower of Jesus.
Certain teachers of the Christian life have emphasized only one side of spirituality. They have taught Gods
enablement without teaching human response. They have
taught that the indwelling Christ will empower us to overcome habits, temptations, and weaknesses. Yes, Christ will
give you victory; but that is only half the secret to victory.
Two must work together; Christ will do His part, as you do
your part. When two people pick up a heavy case, each
person should carry half the weight. I have learned over
the years that Christ works best in those who yield to Him,
trust in Him, follow Him, and discipline themselves for
Him. Lord, I want to partner with You.
If youre going to run the Ten Miler, you have to get
serious about subduing the weaknesses and excuses of the
flesh (body). Likewise, those who are going to do something for God, have to get serious about subduing the lust
and temptations of the flesh (old nature). Paul also uses
the analogy of the physical flesh to picture our problems
with our lower nature, also called our old man.
To become disciplined, where can you get the best training?
Why dont you begin with Jesus? Why dont you look to
His example? Lord, help me keep up.
You should not try to discipline yourself ignorantly.
You cant beat the flesh into submission. Theres a key to
properly denying yourself and disciplining your body.
First, you need the power of Christ in your heart, so yield
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to the indwelling Christ. Second, you need to look to
Jesus as your example. You should discipline yourself as
He did. Let Him teach you obedience for He always
obeyed when He lived in the flesh. Let His indwelling
presence guide you into a life of discipline: Though He
[Jesus] were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the
things which He suffered (Heb. 5:8). As you learn obedience from Him, you can walk as He walked.
In His earthly life, Jesus was God coming down to
earth and living under earthly conditions and earthly circumstances. God expects you to live as Jesus did. He is
your example. Young people have asked the question,
What Would Jesus Do? (WWJD?) Thats a good rule for
your life. When you face difficult decisions or situations
and dont know what to do, find out what Jesus would do.
Then do it!
Some people have asked, WWJD? and discovered
the answer, but didnt have the ability to follow through
on His example. For instance, Jesus blessed those who
cursed Him. But some Christians dont follow that example. Instead, they get angry at those who curse them.
They fight back, and some followers of Jesus even try to
get even. Remember, Jesus has called you to follow His example, and you can do it when the power of Jesus in you
helps you overcome your weakness. Lord, help me.
If you follow the example of Jesus, you cannot act
any other way than He would act. Therefore if you are
seeking to live as Jesus lived, you must first let Him live in
your heart, and secondly, follow His example. When you
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DISCIPLINING
face failure, allow the indwelling Jesus to live His success
through you.
When will He help you? Its not a matter of every
once in a while; He can do it day-in day-out, week-in weekout, year-in year-out. When you become discouraged and
are ready to give up your attempt to follow Jesus, then you
must claim the promise, I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me (Phil. 4:13).
Remember you cannot live for Christ in your own
strength. You must trustfully surrender your life to Him,
and let His power flow through you. Then you can do
what He would do, act the way He would act, and respond
as He would. Lord, give me strength to live for You.
Jesus said, I have given you an example, that ye
should do as I have done to you ( Jn. 13:15). The example of Jesus washing His disciples feet is your challenge to
deny yourself and become disciplined. There is very little
attractiveness in what Jesus did. He stooped to wash dirty
feet, and none of us like to do that. Its so humbling to
wait on those who are beneath us. But Jesus did it. He was
the Son of God, yet He washed the feet of the twelve disciples, including Judas. What do you think went through
the mind of the Lord Jesus as He washed Judas feet?
Thomas Kempis suggested none can be a real
Christian if they only confess their weakness in sin. Kempis who spent his life serving others in the monastery said
that we dont attain any real conformity to the life of
Christ until we also serve other people. He pointed out
that the Lord said without exception, we should take up
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our cross, follow Him daily; and if we dont do that, then
we are not worthy of Him. Kempis described the life of
Christ in us and the life of Christ who was willing to serve
through us. If we are not willing to serve other people,
then we are not willing to follow His example. Since Jesus
washed Judas feet, what should be our attitude toward
our enemies? Kempis continually said the actual imitation of our Lord becomes the banner around which the
Church should rally its disciples. Lord, I want to be like You.
Discipline requires self-denial. Note what Paul said to us
about self-denial: We then that are strong ought to bear
the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Let every one of us please his neighborFor even Christ
pleased not Himself (Rom. 15:1-3a). If the life of Jesus
Christ is our rule and example, how can we say that we
are Christians when we please ourselves first, others second, and Christ seldom? Lord, forgive me when I put self
first.
The Christian who models Christ as his pattern cannot be content to go through life merely eating, drinking,
and having fun. Because Christ did not think of Himself
when He suffered for our salvation, neither should we
put self first. Just as Christ surrendered Himself to pay for
our salvation, so we must surrender ourselves to follow
Him explicitly.
When we discipline ourselves in following Christ, we
deny our lustful temptations. We do not pay attention to
the voice of physical appetites. This is called crucifying our
lust. This is what Paul meant when he said, God forbid
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DISCIPLINING
that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world (Gal. 6:14). When you refuse to feed your
lust, you crucify your lust. Lord, I die in Your presence.
You must deny your lusts and the temptations that
come from your old nature, and nail them to the cross.
Isnt that what you do when you fast? Once your old nature has been nailed to the cross, you must not take it
down to fondle it or serve it.
Paul reminds us, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me (Gal.
2:20). You can learn three things from this verse. First,
you have been co-crucified with Jesus Christ on the cross.
All the benefits of His death are yours. That is a completed action. Second, just as Christ received resurrection life
as He came out of the grave, so you receive that same
power to live for God and overcome the temptations that
face you. Third, you can live by the faith of Jesus Christ.
Do you?
When you take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow Him daily; you are following the rule of self-sacrifice
that drove Jesus Christ to the cross. Will you live by the
rule of self-sacrifice? What have you sacrificed lately? Will
you do it by fasting?
Self-denial doesnt always have to do with what is sinful or unlawful; sometimes it means giving up perfectly
good things just to seek His presence. Theres nothing
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wrong with eating food; God has provided food for us to
eat. But you can follow the law of self-denial when you
give up good food to seek His presence. This leads to a
disciplined life. Lord, I will give up good things for You.
When you fast, you follow the holy rule of Him who
said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Mt. 4:4b).
What are you doing to feed on His Word so that you may
live closer to Him?
Self-denial is also more than denying your fleshly appetites exclusively. Self-denial involves the mind, emotions, and the spirit. You give up your own thoughts to
think His thoughts. You give up your own reputation to
live for Him. Why? Weoughtnot to please ourselves.
For even Christ pleased not Himself (Rom. 15:1,3a). Just
as self-denial was the law of His life, will you make it the
law of your life?
You should find ways to practice self-denial. When
you take control of your outer body, you find power to
take control of your inner man. And when you can control your physical body, you have taken a valuable step to
spirituality. When you have practiced self-denial, you
count nothing as a sacrifice for Jesus sake, and you are
never surprised by what other people do. You can expect
any and everything from other people. Why? Because you
take your orders from Jesus Christ as you walk with Him
and obey Him. Nothing else matters.
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DISCIPLINING
When you take control
of your physical body, you gain strength
to take control of your mind and emotions.
Fasting is holy poverty. You dont fast to make yourself weak, but to build your character. Fasting is holy
hunger, not to make you famished, but to make you holy.
Fasting may include a little suffering, but more importantly you are following the example of His holy suffering
who bore all our sins in His own body on the tree. Even
as He patiently endured affliction for us, so in one sense
fasting is patiently enduring afflictions. Why? Paul said,
That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made
conformable unto His death (Phil. 3:10). Lord, I will be
hungry to know You better.
What happens when you take up your cross and follow Jesus? With the power of self-denial, you have the
ability to reach into Heaven through Jesus Christ and
touch the heart of God. When is the last time you
touched God? When is the last time you could say, Jesus
only in my life? Lord, I say it now.
Self-denial is not merely a negative victory over sin,
the flesh, and the devil. You are not solely trying to defeat
them, nor is your only goal to keep your life clean. Your
primary goal is to have Jesus Christ sitting on the throne
at the center of your heart. So ask yourself, Who sits on
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the throne of my heart? When He has His right place in
the center of your life, nothing else matters. Lord, sit on
the throne of my life.
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DISCIPLINING
To Take Away
What does it take to become a great pianist? Well,
you must have tremendous raw talent. But that wont
achieve greatness without hours of toiling practice. It is
the same when wanting to become like Jesus. You are
given His nature in your new birth, but to live like Jesus,
you must practice discipline and self-denialhours of
toiling practice. You must take up your cross, deny yourself, follow Jesus, and practice it daily.
On the other hand, some have raw ability and they
also practice a lot, yet they still never become great pianists. Why? No desire! No passion! They dont want it
badly enough. Again, the same pattern holds true in the
Christian life. To live like Jesus, you must want to be like
Jesus. And the more you want to be like Jesus, the more
you can become like Him. Who do you want to be like?
How much will you deny yourself to become like Him?
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NOTES
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DISCIPLINING
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Chapter 7
GROWING
Behold, there went out a sower to sow: and it came to
pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the
fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some
fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth;
and immediately it sprang up, because it had no
depth of earth: but when the sun was up, it was
scorched; and because it had no root, it withered
away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns
grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And
other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that
sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some
thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred (Mark
4:3-8).
ome people are like azalea bushes planted on the

sand of an ocean beach where they will never flourish
because that soil has no life-giving nutrition. Nothing
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grows on a sandy beach but a few scrubby weeds. Likewise, an azalea bush planted among rocks will die because
the shallow depth of soil provides no nourishment for the
bushs roots. And unfortunately, an azalea bush settled
among briars and weeds will be choked to death. Some
people will never mature in Christ because they neglect
to plant themselves in a place where they can grow.
Planting yourself in the soils of life. If you plant your life
in the sand of fun and relaxation, you deny yourself the
nutrition of the Word of God, prayer, and fellowship with
Jesus Christ. Subsequently, you will never grow, but will
eventually die. If you plant your life in the middle of a
packed rocky roadway of business and activities, there will
be no way for your roots to reach deep into life-giving soil
so you can survive the blistering sun of persecution, or
those long dry spells when reinvigorating rain doesnt
reach you. And then again, if you are planted among sinful thorns and briars, any potential growth will be surely
choked away. But if you send your roots deep into the nutritious soil of God Himself, it is then that you will be
nourished and grow.
Leave the growing to God. Have you ever seen a lily trying to make itself grow? You can preach to lilies, Try real
hard to grow! but your preaching wont help. And even
if lilies could command themselves to grow, your preaching still wouldnt help. Jesus said that the lilies do not
spin or toil (see Mt. 6:28). He meant that lilies do not try
to grow; they just grow. And what did He mean when He
said, Even Solomon in all his glory was not [as beautiful
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GROWING
as these lilies] (Lk. 12:27 NKJV)? He meant only God
can make a beautiful flower. Would you like to grow?
Would you like to be a beautiful flower for God? Then,
what must you do? Plant yourself in His presence, and
then leave the growing to God. Lord, I want to grow.
While lilies grow to become beautiful flowers,
theyre not concerned about becoming what theyre not,
nor are they concerned about how quickly theyre growing. They just do their lily thing. The Lord said that if
you will abide in Me and I in you ( Jn. 15:4a), then you
can grow. It seems to me when you abide in Christ, youre
like a lily abiding in the growth pattern that is given by
God. Youll simply grow. Lord, Ill abide.
Growing spiritually is not self-effort to become a better man of God or a woman of prayer; but rather growing
is yielding to the inward life principle that God has put
within your heart. You must know who you are in Gods
order. How do you find out? You learn by fasting, talking
to God, listening to God, re-directing your life, and resting in His blueprint for your life.
Transforming your poor dirt into rich soil. Perhaps you
are not growing in grace because you are planted in poor
soil. Maybe youve been planted under some bushes
where the sun doesnt reach you to bring out all the colors of your potential. Do you feel like youve been planted in a beach or among bricks on a sidewalk? Maybe you
think its impossible to transform poor dirt into good soil.
Listen to this story.
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My mother grew up on a farm in South Carolina, but
moved to the city-living of Savannah, Georgia, when she
married. She didnt forget her heritage though, and always grew a vegetable garden in the backyard. Her green
thumb was her signature in life. After a series of rental
homes, she finally bought a house and a two-acre plot of
ground on the edge of town; but the backyard was as
sandy as the ocean beach 20 miles away. Nothing of value
would grow, only weeds. But she wouldnt let any obstacle
keep her from growing her vegetables.
She contacted a handyman who worked yards and
cut grass. At her request, he dumped all his leaves and
grass cuttings in my mothers backyard. The handyman
had a mule that he used to plow the leaves under the soil
where they would rot to form compost. At times the backyard was covered with two feet of leaves and grass. Eventually, as the leaves rotted, our sandy backyard became
rich black soil. The ground became the richest in the
neighborhood, and our neighbors remarked of my mother, She could grow tomatoes on a hoe handle stuck in
the ground.
What about you? Does the soil around you need to
be transformed? You cant do it, but I know a Divine Gardener who can. He can transform any life by first transforming your heart, and second, by transforming your
surroundings. Lord, transform the soil of my heart.
That doesnt mean the Gardener will make you financially rich so that you can purchase the best farm in
the state. But when you take time to fast and seek His
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GROWING
presence, you will grow to become godly: You become
like the Lord by beholding His glory in a mirror (2 Cor
3:18, authors translation).
Growing Gods Way. Lilies dont grow like pine trees,
and no matter how hard they try, they can never grow to
become a pine tree. A beautiful lily comes from the seed
of a lily and will always be a lily. If you want to grow spiritually, you must grow Gods way established for you. It is
His life that causes you to grow to be like Him and to
grow according to the seed that is planted in your heart.
When you experience His love, it brings out love in you.
Lord, make me like You.
Have you ever noticed how a lily graces the smallest
corner given to it? It doesnt try to be an orchid on a vine,
nor does it try to be a beautiful magnolia growing high in
the trees. A lily is most attractive when it is naturally beautiful. Why cant you be that way?
You must put aside your own growth agenda, and
grow Gods way. Jesus said, Think about how the lilies
grow (Lk. 12:27, authors translation). God gives His
total attention to growing the tiniest lily. The Mighty God
of Heaven, who created this large planet in the universe,
will also give all His attention to make you the most beautiful flower in the world.
Still growing when it storms. A lily doesnt worry about
blowing winds or falling rain. As a matter of fact, it seems
that no matter how hard the winds blow, or how much
rain falls upon it, a lily still blooms with all its beauty. Can
you do that with your job pressures blowing upon you?
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What happens when the storms of temptation pour buckets of rain upon you? Lord, protect me from the storm.
Dead plants cant grow. Suppose you try to make a
dead flower grow. You water it, fertilize it, and even allow
the warm life-giving sun of God to shine upon it. Even
with all this care and nourishment, a dead flower still
cant grow.
Maybe youre not growing in Christ because youre
dead at the center. Outwardly, you appear religious;
everyone knows that you have joined the church, and that
you can sing the praises of God. But when the water of
Gods Word is poured upon you and the sun of prayer
shines upon you, nothing happens because inwardly
youre dead.
You need to be born again into Gods family to
grow. First you are born physically into your parents family, and then you can be born again into Gods family.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right
to become children of God, to those who believe in His
name ( Jn. 1:12 NKJV).
If you want to grow, you must first become Gods
child. You do that by receiving Jesus Christ into your
heart. When youre born again, you receive Gods life;
you receive eternal life. Whether you consciously try or
not, you cannot make a dead tree grow, just like you cannot make a person without the life of God live for Him.
But a live flower just naturally grows because of whats on
the inside. Do you naturally grow?
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GROWING
To Take Away
Would you be satisfied if your little child remained a
cute cuddly baby all of his life, and never grew? What
farmer would be satisfied if his grain were planted, but
never grew, reached full height and never produced
fruit?
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18a). This command applies to all of us. There is a life of faith that is
available to every believer, and God has made it possible
that you can follow to know God and grow in Him.
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NOTES
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GROWING
103
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Chapter 8
LOOKING
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and
let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the
right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).
asting is looking beyond the things you can see in this

world and looking to the unseen spiritual world; it is
looking to Jesus. But when you look to Jesus, why are you
looking? Where are you looking? What do you see?
Looking for protection. As a young kid, I was a member
of a mischievous group of boys who called ourselves The
Cat Patrol. We never got into much trouble. Actually, the
worst thing we ever did was sandbag the house of a cranky
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old man on Halloween. Like any group of mischievous
boys, we didnt want any parents snooping around our
treehouse, so we always posted a lookout. When I was the
lookout, I watched for any adults or girlsone was as
snoopy as the other.
Why did we post a lookout? To protect ourselves.
What were we looking out for? Perceived danger. What
did we see? Nothing. While we were not really in any danger, we continually played this game and life was fun.
Maybe you want to protect yourself from something
you fear, and so you fast. The word fasting comes from the
Hebrew tsum, which means distress or loss of appetite
during time of danger or threat. If you heard your
spouse was in an accident and was in the emergency room
at the hospital, what would you do? Youd rush to the hospital. But if it were noon, would you drive through to get
a hamburger on the way to the hospital? No! Thinking
only of the emergency, youd forget your hunger. When
something scares you, you lose your appetite. Maybe
youre scared of a cancer intruding your bodyFast!
Maybe youre afraid of losing your jobFast! Fast and
look to God to intervene. When you are frightened, remember why you fast. Youre looking to God.
Looking for deliverance. At one time in the Scriptures a
look was necessary to save a person from death. Because
Israel had sinned against God, fiery serpents came into
the camp, and their stinging bite proved deadly. However,
Israel repented, We have sinned (see Num. 21:7). And
so God told Moses to make a brass serpenta symbol of
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LOOKING
their sin: Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and
it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it,
shall live (Num. 21:8 NKJV). All they had to do was look
and live. Jesus used this story to explain that looking was
believing (see Jn. 3:14-16). When you get in trouble, look
to Jesus.
Perhaps youre afraid of God because of what youve
done. Youve disobeyed Him. Moseswas afraid to look
upon God (Ex. 3:6b). Do you realize that when you refuse to look to God, its disobedience? God says, Look
unto Me, and be ye savedfor I am God (Is. 45:22a).
Lord, I look to You for forgiveness.
Looking is anticipation. As a Boeing 747 descends
from the sky, a notice flashes on the airport lobby sign,
Flight 351Just Arrived. You stand and begin to pace,
anticipating the sight of a loved one you havent seen for
a long time. Youve hoped for this day to come, and now
youre overwhelmed with the thought that in just a few
moments, your longing will be fulfilled.
In the same way, as you fast, you greatly long for the
presence of God. You are filled with joy and excitement
and look forward to being with Him. You anticipate His
goodness and desire His company.
Unfortunately there are some who never bother to
look to God for their daily life. They live as though there
is no God. What will happen to those who arent looking?
They will be caught as a thief, who has no lookout, who is
seized and arrested by the police. If youre not looking for
the return of Jesus, you will be surprised when He appears.
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The Lordwill come in a day when you dont look for
Him (Mt. 24:50, authors translation).
Only a few are looking. What is God to most people, including many Christians? Some say that because this is
such a big powerful world that couldnt have possibly created itself, there must have been a big powerful God who
is its Creator. So they reason and decide, We must believe there is a God. They make Him a conclusion. But
they only know about the God of creation; they dont really know Him.
I say there is a God because I know Him.
To others in the church, God is just an idea. Anything in their mind is a thought. They rationalize that if
they can think about God, He is an idea. Again, they
know about God rationally, but they dont know Him. But,
I know Him because I talk to God.
A few go even further. They declare that they believe
in God by their creeds. They confess, I believe in God
the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth. Their
speech declares that they know God, but in their experience, God is no more real to them than any other thing
in the unseen world. They go through life trying to love
the idea of God, or they try to believe in the principle of
God.
I love God because I have experienced God.
Is God a person we can look for? Is God a person who
can be knowncan be experiencedcan be seen? He
did walk in the Garden of Eden to talk with Adam. If God
is a person who we can know, then He has a mind, which
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LOOKING
is the first quality of personhood. He has rationality and
we can talk to Him as He talks to us. Whens the last time
you talked to God? Hello, God, I need to talk with You.
The second quality of personhood is emotions or
feelings. God loves, for I have felt His loving kindness. He
also hates. He detests sin, and I have felt His severe rebuke when Ive tolerated sin in my life. Therefore, Ive
learned to come to God as a sensitive personto feel His
presenceto experience His passionto enjoy His person. Lord, I want to feel You.
The third quality of personhood is volition or will.
God is not bound, but He is free to make choices. He has
volition. Sometimes I try to get Him to bend His will to
answer my prayers. But I find I must learn to bend my will
to His. Evan Roberts, the preacher who initiated the great
Wales Revival of 1904, prayed, Bend me, Lord; bend
me. Lord, thats my prayer.
You can know God to the same degree of intimacy
that you know other people. And who do you know best
of all in life? Is it your mother? Your spouse? Or one of
your children? You can have the same intimate relationship with God that you have with another person. Oh God,
I want to know You.
Looking includes our five senses. Because God is a person, we can relate to Him as we relate to the world
through our five sensessight, sound, taste, touch, and
smell. How do we relate to God through these five senses? Notice Jesus includes sound, My sheep hear My voice
( Jn. 10:27a). He also mentions sight, Blessed are the
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pure in heart: for they shall see God (Mt. 5:8). We can
figuratively taste God, Taste and see that the Lord is
good (Ps. 34:8a) and smell Him, All Thy garments smell
of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces
(Ps. 45:8a). And can we touch Him with our hands? No.
But we can touch His heart with our hearts. Thank You,
God, for touching me in all my senses.
The sixth sense. At the heart of the Christian faith is
our belief that we can look into the invisible world. We
believe that there is a God we cant see with physical eyes.
Yet through a sixth sense, we can see God. Just as we understand the physical world by our senses, so can we experience and know God through our sixth sense. Paul
claims that the eyes of your understanding [may be] enlightened (Eph. 1:18a).
At the same time, God continues to speak to us
through our five senses, the windows to our soul. We believe that God sees everything we do, hears us when we
pray, and guides our every step. So if we believe there is
an invisible world, why do we act as though the world that
we can touch is the only world there is? Maybe its because the physical worldthe one we can see, touch,
hear, smell, and experiencedemands our attention.
Many people deny the existence of God because they
cant interact with Him using their five senses. They say
there is no God because they cant see Him, touch Him,
smell Him, taste Him, or hear Him. But these are not the
only ways we can communicate with God. Through the
sixth sense, we can know God in our heart. God, I know
You exist because You hear me when I talk to You.
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LOOKING
Looking to the spiritual kingdom. There is a spiritual
kingdom where God is about us, over us, under us, and
before us, guiding our life. God Himself is waiting for you
to look to Him. Why dont you begin searching for Him
now?
In our limited thinking, we tend to draw a false contrast between Gods spiritual world and Gods natural
world about us. Because we cant see God, we think these
two worlds cant co-exist. The imaginary line weve drawn
to separate this world from the spiritual world is just
thatimaginarynot real.
Ah, but when you begin to think that there is a line,
at least you are admitting there is another life; there is a
kingdom of God out there. So, if Hes out there, do you
want to know Him? Maybe you need God and you need
Him now. Youre in a mess and you want God to come
help get rid of your troubles. If youre in danger, you
dont just want a knowledge of God or a feeling about
God in another world. You need Him nowin this world.
You want Him to leave the other world to come to you in
this world. If you look for Him, you can find Him. Lord,
there You are!
The trouble is we have a bad habit of ignoring the
spiritual world about us, and we dont pay any attention
to God who is in that world or this world. So, begin looking to God by fasting. He will come to you and He will
help you. Remember what the Bible promises, He that
cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6b).
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Jesus said to begin by acknowledging He exists. He
said, You believe in God ( Jn. 14:1b). Then He gave a
command, Believe also in Me ( Jn. 14:1b). Without acknowledging the first, you cant enter into the life of the
second. You must believe or acknowledge God, then you
come to Him through Jesus. Jesus saithI am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by Me ( Jn. 14:6). Then only through the second
Jesus Christdo you fully acknowledge the firstGod.
You must choose which one of the two worlds will direct your life. If you choose Christ, you deliberately
choose the spiritual kingdom of God. If you choose the
physical world, you are deliberately denying the spiritual
world, the other world of God. If you want to know God,
you must choose the world unseen with physical eyes; you
must seek Him with your spiritual eyes.
Some Christians mistakenly believe that the spiritual
world is out there, and so it will come sometime in the future. They dream of Heaven after they die where they will
live with God forever. As a result, these people have very
little relationship with God in this present world. Theyre
waiting for the sound of the trumpet, and a voice to call
them up higher. But is that enough? What about today?
Can the kingdom of God be here and now? Lord, I want to
see You now.
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To Take Away
Your soul has eyes to see God, and ears to hear God.
But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for
they hear (Mt. 13:16).
When you begin to focus upon God, you begin to see
His will for your life; you begin to hear His inner voice
guiding you, and more than that; you begin to touch God
and be touched by Him. As you eat His food, and smell
His fragrance, you know God intimately. When that happens, and a God-consciousness captures your awareness;
then inwardly, you will feel God for who He is and see
God for what He can do for you.
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LOOKING
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RESTING
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon
you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls
(Matthew 11:28-29).
When I was a teenager I rode my bicycle all the way

across Georgia and South Carolina in the summertime.
During those hot blistering days, I would come upon an
old-fashioned country gas station with a shaded driveway.
After a few minutes of rest in the shade and a cool drink,
I was renewed for my next 20 miles of hot highway. In the
same way, as you walk through the trials of this life, a little rest can renew your spirit for the next challenge, and
a little shade can keep you going.
Listen to the promise of Jesus, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
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[Paul responds] Most gladly therefore will I rather glory
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me (2 Cor. 12:9). Because Jesus is gracious, He allows
His power to rest on us. The word rest (epi, upon; skene, a
tent) has the unique meaning of spreading a tent over
me. What does Jesus do when you are tired, worn out,
and cant take another step? He spreads a tent so you can
rest. Fasting provides that cool resting place on a hot
journey. When you fast, the power of Christ rests upon
you.
Next time you come apart from the heavy pressures
of this world, rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Stop pushing
ahead, and rest alongside the road. Begin to fast and the
Lord will cover you with His tabernacle of shade so you
can be refreshed to return to the grind of work. Lord,
theres a little shade up the road; can I stop awhile and rest?
What is rest? Rest is a quality of life that unsaved people do not know about, and most Christians have not experienced. After God completed the work of Creation in
six days, He rested. Thus the heavens and the earth, and
all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh
day God ended His work which He had done, and He
rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had
done (Gen. 2: 1-2 NKJV). Why did God rest? Obviously,
God didnt rest because He was exhausted; although
sometimes you need rest when youre tired. And obviously, God didnt rest because He needed to renew His spent
energy; whereas sometimes you need rest to replenish
your strength. And there are other times you rest because
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RESTING
youre sick and need to break a fever or overcome a disease. Obviously, this also was not Gods purpose for resting. Still further, sometimes you rest to prepare yourself
for hard work. This reason, of course, could not have
been why God rested after Creation.
Gods rest is peace, calmness, and serenity where you
are in control of yourself and situation. Nothing is out of
place, everything is right, and you are not threatened or
pressured to do anything.
God rested because rest is what God does and who
God is. When God rests, He is completely in control of
Himself, and He controls all the world about Him. Everything is right, and He doesnt need to do anything else.
Lord, I want to rest, just like You rested.
Two kinds of rest. There is a rest that you will experience after completing your life on earth. All believers
who die will enter that restthe rest of Heaven. Our
other rest is an analogy; it is the rest we have on earth.
This rest is not a complete rest, nor is it a final rest. But
it is a wonderful rest. When you experience tensions on
this earth, you can enter into His rest. This is the rest
promised by Jesus Christ. You receive rest through the
Word of God, as you fast and read the Bible. You get rest
through prayer as you fast and talk to Jesus. You obtain
rest through surrender as you fast and yield your life up
to Him. Lord, I surrender all.
Spiritual rest. You encounter spiritual rest in the Lord
when you fast. And why is that? Fasting is a life-giving experience. When you fast, you give life to your soul and
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spirit; you renew yourself. While you can fast for physical
reasons, such as breaking an addiction, meeting a financial need, or receiving an answer to an impossible prayer,
there is a fast to know God intimately. It is this fast that
leads to rest.
Many people dont consider that you could ever gain
rest from fasting; they instead dwell on the supposition
that strength is being sapped from their body and pleasure is being denied from their taste buds because they are
not eating. Rather, the opposite takes place. You enter
into the rest that the Lord gives you. When Jesus said,
Take My rest upon you, He did not intend that you
should take a rest from work or a rest from your daily activities. But rather, you should rest from struggling with
sin, rest from your wild imaginations, rest from your condemning conscience, and give rest to your striving heart.
Finding rest in Jesus Christ is the ideal place for soul satisfaction. Lord, I feel good in Your presence.
What does it mean when the Scripture promises,
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God
(Heb. 4:9)? The word rest here is sabbatismos which is a
Sabbath rest. This means much more than keeping the
Sabbath laws. When God promises rest to His people, He
declares they will (a) cease their work, (b) fellowship with
the Lord, and (c) do what He did after creating the
world. The rest is the rest of God Himself. Rest is what He
did, and rest is what He offers you. When you rest in the
Lord, you possess His life in you, and His work flows
through you. When you enter into divine rest, you enter
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into God Himself, and you do what God did. Lord, Im
coming to rest in You.
Fasting is so much more than not eating. By yielding
to God and letting Him flow through you, you can enjoy
rest and experience a oneness with God not previously
felt.
Dont measure your fasting

by the food you give up, but
by the fellowship you gain with God.
When are you going to rest? Some people, like Solomon,
can be characterized as a man of rest (see 1 Chron.
22:9). Solomons father, David, had been a man of war.
He had killed many and conquered much. But once Israels enemies were defeated and David passed from the
scene, then came the calm kingdom of Solomon. He was
a man of peace and rest, with no battles to fight. Are you
characterized as a person of peace and rest like Solomon?
Or are you considered to be a person of battles and wars?
Do you continually strive for more material possessionsa bigger car, a bigger house? Do you constantly
strive after promotions? Will you always want betterbut
youre not sure what better means? You can become a
person of rest as you fast. Why? Because you put aside the
most basic human pursuit of allfood; and you pursue
God for who He is. Lord, make me a person of rest.
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Resting for refreshment. When we rest, we are refreshed.
Paul says in Second Corinthians 7:13b, Because his [Titus]
spirit was refreshed by you all. Titus received something
from the believers at Corinthhe was refreshed. What
can that mean to you? When you seek God and fast with
Him, you can be refreshed. If you are tired, your vigor will
be restored. Have you felt a little dull and discouraged in
your Christian walk? Then fast to be revived.
Not only will your spirit be restored, but your body
also will be refreshed when you fast. Your digestive system
rests, as well as the pressures of your heart, lungs, and
elimination system. Without having to struggle to ingest
new food, the whole body takes a rest.
The word refreshed also means to grasp a new vision of
what you can accomplish. Tired aching bones and muscles remind you of things you cant do. But rest and refreshment will enable you to assume responsibility for
bigger tasks with the assurance you can do it. So fast if
you have soul-aches, and fast if you are ministry-tired. Do
you need refreshment? Fast to restore strength in God
Himself.
Resting from your struggle. Some of you are still struggling with the battles of life. Perhaps you are fighting addiction, or maybe youre struggling because someone has
lied about you. Maybe someone wants your job. So youre
striving just to hang on. Rest is available to you. Jesus said,
Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest (Mt. 11:28). Jesus is speaking to
those whose lives are filled with anxiety. Although the
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RESTING
things people struggled with in Jesus day might have
been different than our day, the internal pressure is fundamentally the same. Whether is it the lust of the eyes,
the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life, we all struggle
to overcome our weakness and sinful nature. If youre
still struggling with your desires, consider Gods promise:
Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest,
let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it
(Heb. 4:1 NKJV). God assures that He will give you rest.
Where is rest found? In Jesus! Remember His invitation, Come unto Me. How do you get close to Jesus?
When you fast to seek His presence, you move beyond
singing about Him in church and hearing about Him in a
sermon. In the privacy of your quiet time, you intimately
talk with Him. When you fast, you stop pleasing the body
and you seek to please God Himself. When was the last
time you had an intimate talk with Jesus?
Resting to overcome work, pain, or battle. Have you ever
worked in the yard until you were so tired you had difficulty standing up? Even after you were exhausted, you
drove yourself to cut just a little more of the lawn to finish the job. Maybe you were digging a hole and had just a
few more feet to shovel. Maybe you were driving home
late at night and didnt want to stop and check into a
motel. Whatever the occasion, you pushed your body past
the limits. Even though you couldnt take it any longer,
you still pressed a little farther. In that excruciating experience, what you wanted most of all was rest.
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Lets relate this physical pain to spiritual pain. Have
you ever struggled against a problem that you didnt
know what to do? Have you ever fought against a habit so
much that you wanted to die? What must you do? Fast.
When you fast, you turn your back on the pressures of
this world. You completely yield yourself and your future
to God, then you determine to follow Gods principles to
trust Him with your future. You find rest when you enter
this commitment experience. You enter the same kind of
experience when you commit yourself to fast for deliverance from spiritual pressures. God promises, There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God (Heb.
4:9). Lord, Im tired.
Earlier we described rest as a quality of God. This
means that when you fast, you enter into Gods rest and
begin to experience your world the way God sees things
and feel about your world. Your victory is not in your rest,
but your victory is in His rest.
When rest is necessary. There are times when rest is not
just something to be enjoyed or desired, it is absolutely
necessary. When Jesus saw the weariness of His disciples
in ministry, He said, Comeapartand rest a while
(Mk. 6:31a). He knew they needed rest and He went with
them because He also needed rest. Rest was getting away
from the ministry that was draining them of their
strength and determination. Lord, Im drained.
Fasting can allow you to get away from your humdrum existence, or remove yourself from the pressures of
life. When you fast from earthly food, you feed upon the
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RESTING
Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you drink the
water of life, the Holy Spirit. When you just cant go any
farther, you need to come apart and fast awhile. There
youll find rest.
Rest prepares you for the future. To make it through
some days, you need a little rest in the middle of the afternoon. Those few moments of rest give you strength to
complete the day. Most Americans call it coffee break.
Whether youre sweating out in the sun, or sitting in an
air-conditioned office, you need a rest break to revive
your spirit and direct your focus to the next task. Perhaps
thats what fasting will do for you. When you need to get
ready for the next great task, fast for it.
An example of fasting to prepare for the future is illustrated many years ago when I wrote the program Friend
Day, which was sold to over 40,000 churches. It was a plan
of friendship evangelism that involved every person in a
church bringing a friend on a special day called Friend
Day. The purpose was to win people to Christ through existing relationships. I instructed the pastors to take off either Friday or Saturday before Friend Day to spend the day
in fasting and prayer for a successful campaign. Because
there would be many unsaved people in church, the pastor needed the power of God on his ministry. Is that
power also available to you? Yes, by prayer and fasting.
You can prepare for your next level of service by fasting
and prayer. Lord, I will prepare for the giant challenges of life
by fasting.
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Resting makes you feel good. How do you feel when you
work all day? Whether youve had pressure at the office or
your muscles ache from physical work, you usually look
forward to going to bed and resting. Usually when I am
tired the most, I enjoy my bed the most. For the first few
moments after I crawl between clean sheets, I relish the
experience. I can feel every muscle in my body relaxing;
its as though I am slowly sinking into the mattress. In just
a short time, the inviting sheets are warmed by my body
temperature. Then in that toasty cocoon, I enjoy my
comfy bed. It doesnt take long before I drift into sleep
and I get rest for the next day.
In the same way, I look forward to fasting and communion with God. There are some people that feel that
fasting is physical pain, or even torture. I find it a comfortable experience.
Sometimes I have to admit that my calendar
squeezes my quiet time. I wake up in the morning and immediately think about an important meeting I need to attend or a lecture I want to review. So, I consider hurrying
through my quiet time with God so that I can get on with
my life. Its then that I have to learn the lesson of seeking
God for the pleasure of His company. Its then I gain the
rest from Him that makes me feel good for the day. Lord,
I feel comfortable in Your presence.
Resting is a command. Fasting is not an easy thing to
do because your physical body cries out, Im hungry.
But you obey the command of God, Seek ye My face,
and you respond like the Psalmist, Thy face, Lord, will I
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RESTING
seek (Ps. 27:8). Even though you have chosen to stop eating to seek God, it is God who motivates you to go without food to seek His face. You must understand, It is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
pleasure (Phil. 2:13, emphasis mine). We are commanded
to, Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him (Ps.
37:7a). Since we are commanded to rest in the Lord, we
know that rest is obtainable. Are you tired today? Why
dont you rest in God. Lord, Im tired, refresh me.
Restoring your soul. When you are spiritually drained,
what do you do? Fast! When you feel your heart is empty
so that your prayers bounce off the ceiling, what do you
do? Fast! When you learn that the Lord is your Shepherd,
then you find yourself saying, I shall not want. When you
find yourself following your Shepherd beside still waters,
what do you receive? He restoreth my soul (see Ps. 23).
Notice what the Shepherd will do to draw you close
to Him. The Bible says, He maketh me to lie down. He
makes you lie down in green pastures where there is
food for you to eatHe makes you rest. The Shepherd
does not pull your legs out from under you so that you
drop down, nor does He push you over until you fall
down. How then does He do it? He leads me to green pastures where there is food. Since I am hot and tired, I will
naturally want to lie down in the cool green grass to get
something to eat. Because Im tired, I want to lie down.
He doesnt force me to lie down; He leads me to green
pastures where He knows Ill naturally lie down.
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God does not force you to fast, but He will make you
tired so that you will want to rest in Him. It is then you
fast. He makes you hungry, then leads you to the place
where you want to eat. Have you been eating spiritual
food lately? Have you been enjoying His presence? If not,
follow Him beside still waters so you can have rest. Lord,
make a place for me to lie down, Im coming to You.
Notice Psalm 23 doesnt describe the Lord leading
you by the oceans to tempt you to go swimming nor does
He lead you by a powerful rushing river to teach you
about His magnificent creative ability. He doesnt even
lead you by a waterfall so you can enjoy its artistic beauty.
He leads you by still waters so you can rest. Maybe even
sleep. Its restful here in Your presence, Lord; why cant I stay
here?
A shepherd doesnt let his sheep stay by still waters
though. He leads you beside the still waters, which means
He leads you past still waters, back out into the hectic
world. You cant fast forever, and you cant spend all day
in your quiet time. He will lead you to the still waters,
then lead you away from still waters. You go there to rest
and drink, and then you need to move on with your life.
Lord, its hard to leave Your presence.
You cant live forever in a monastery, youve got a job
and work to do. You may have a family that needs your
care. So the Lord leads you beside still waters, which
means you can rest a day or two, or a week or two, to be
restored to move on. But Lord, its so good to stay here,
why cant we pitch a tent here like Peter wanted to pitch
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RESTING
a tent on the Mount of Transfiguration? (Mt. 17:4, authors translation).
You come into His presence to get rest and revitalization, then its time to move on. You fast to learn how
the Lord leads and where the Lord leads, then pack up
your tent to go about your obligations.
Rest from the tyranny of sin and slavery. Sin is not a kind
master. First it flirts with you by enticement, and then attracts you with its pleasures. But like a hot bath, its not so
hot after youre in for awhile. Sin is not alluring once you
drink deeply. In fact, sin is a very hard taskmaster that will
physically brutalize you, emotionally devastate you, and
spiritually bankrupt you.
For those in sin God says, Stand ye in the ways,
and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way,
and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls
( Jer. 6:16). This rest is not for those on the journey of
faith, but for those who are wrestling with sin. This is the
rest from sin, this is the rest that you get from repentance.
Perhaps you are addicted and cant break from those
chains. You used to be free, but now you are enslaved to
your habit. You used to take a drink of liquor, but now
drink takes you. You sucked on a cigarette, but now you
are the addicted sucker. Your integrity has been drugged,
and you have been dragged through the streets. What do
you do?
You fast to break addiction, however this is not an
easy fast, nor is it an automatic success. Just as addiction
came one cigarette at a time, so freedom comes one step
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at a time. That means that spiritual freedom comes one
day at a time. Even when you get victory, it is temporary;
you enjoy victory one day at a time.
I think it might be better for the person who has
been addicted physically to drugs, alcohol, or tobacco, to
fast one day each week for 40 weeks, rather than fast once
for 40 days. However, all addictions are different, and you
may need to fast differently. I dont recommend any fasting for 40 days without seriously considering what you are
doing and being carefully led of the Lord. Only a few
should attempt this fast because it is so severe. But on the
other hand, it may take that severe prescription to break
your addiction.
Perhaps you are fasting because there is something
in your inner life that you need to conquer. Or maybe
there is something in your world that you need to overcome. So you fast to get Gods help to conquer yourself or
get victory over your world. And what do you get when
you have become a conqueror? You get rest. Rest is that
quality of God that you appropriate when you spend time
in fasting and seeking His heart. You put aside food and
the pursuit of physical satisfaction to search for the presence of God. Those who have never properly fasted have
probably never attained this level of peace.
God promises you rest. If you are a slave to an addiction, you can be suddenly set free. Not only will you
see yourself as free, but you will feel it and know it internally. You will rest in your freedom. Do you need rest?
Have you been a slave to addiction? Why dont you fast to
find rest in the Lord.
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To Take Away
Rest is a wonderful anticipation to those who are so
tired they can hardly stand up. Every ache in their body
cries out for rest. And when rest finally comes, its such a
relief that they usually drift into sleep. Unfortunately
then, the experience of rest is gone because while sleeping they are not aware of anything.
The greatest thing about rest is its anticipation, not
its realization. Isnt that true about a lot of things in life?
God gives us the anticipation of rest to help us get
through the drudgery of pain along the journey.
One day we will have perfectsoothingsnoozing
rest. I can hardly wait! But theres something greater than
rest, its God Himself. One day well have the passion of
our heartsperfect communion with God.
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133
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KNOWING
But the people that do know their God shall be strong,
and do exploits (Daniel 11:32b).
This is what the Lord says: Let not the wise man boast
of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who
boasts boast about this: that he understands and
knows Me ( Jeremiah 23-24a NIV).
t is extremely important that your idea of God corresponds to the true being of God. You can know about
Him conceptually in your head, but that is not enough.
You must also know Him relationally in your heart. Many
people learn a correct creed or statement about God, but
it is of little consequence to their daily life because they
live as though there is no God. What good is it to understand the real concept of God but bury it beneath theology books and creedal statements?
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How well do you know God? Most of us who have been
converted can share our experience of what happened
when we were saved. We rattle off our testimony and tell
all about the things that happened to us. But during our
profession, we fail to mention that we have come to know
God personally and intimately.
The problem is that most of us want a formula to
know Him. As if we put the right ingredients in the bowl,
we can bake the perfect cake. Thus, we feel that if we
apply the right formula, we automatically get to know
God. Not so.
Searching to know God. Are you searching for God?
Some search for Him in their head, and what they find is
just a definition that describes God. Some search in their
appetites and only find a God that is likened unto them.
Others search for Him with their whole heart, and because their heart controls both their head and their
hand, they are more likely than anyone else to find the
actual true God. Why? You only find God when you
search for Him with your whole heart.
And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall
search for Me with all your heart ( Jeremiah 29:13).
Knowing other gods. Many people think they know the
real God, but they have actually created an idol that has
replaced God. An idol is nothing more than a man-made
god carved from the fears of your fallen heart and has no
likeness to the true God. No matter what god you make in
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KNOWING
place of the true God, no matter what your source for
thinking about any god other than the true God, and no
matter your motive, your false god always comes from
your self-creation. We make our gods as much like ourselves as we can. Remember, God knows what we are
doing for He said, Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself (Ps. 50:21b). The gods of our
darkened hearts are no gods at all.
Among all the commandments of God, the first is
that we should have no other gods before Him, and there
is nothing more hateful to God than idolatry. Why?
Youve made God something that He isnt. Idols are
carved from an idolaters heart, and assumes that God is
not the One who will judge us for rejecting Him. When
we make gods after our own image and likeness, we are
rejecting the God who made us after His image and likeness (see Gen. 1:26-27). And as we try to conform our god
to our image, it is He who wants to conform us to His likeness. Oh, the monstrous evil of it all, when we assume
Gods place by trying to make Him like us; when at the
same time, God is trying to make us like Him.
What did Paul say about idolaters? they glorified
Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in
their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened
(Rom. 1:21). So where did we go wrong? It began in a
blackened mind that had no light. So we fast to get more
lightmore understandingmore understanding of God.
When you fast, you deny the ferocious appetite of your
body to create a new appetite of your soul, an appetite to
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know Godto know Him correctly, to know Him personally, to know Him intimately. Lord, give me that appetite.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Why You Dont Know God

Your mind is influenced by worldliness.
Your mind tends to doubt because of skepticism.
Your mind is confused because of humanism.
You believe God is not here.
You believe God does not care.
Knowing God can solve your problems. Have you ever realized that knowing God will solve thousands of your
everyday troubles and worries? When you find God, you
have found the only One who can solve every one of your
irritating problems.
When you look behind the source of every crushing
weight, you will ultimately find that all trouble comes
from sin. Traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden,
sin has always destroyed our relationship with God, and it
keeps us from knowing God, the only one who can help
us get out of the mess we are in.
God can help you, but when you reject Him, He allows your problems to weigh you down and pulverize you.
He patiently waits for you to come to Him, all the while
knowing your pain is killing you. Why does a loving God
do this? Anguish is often the only way to get your attention and turn your heart toward Him. In love He allows
pain to motivate you to know Him, because it is then He
can shower His love upon you. The crushing weight of all
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KNOWING
of life is nothing more than a solitary call to repentance;
it is a mighty weight from God Himself. God, help me see
Your hand in my troubles.
When you begin to know God, you begin to understand how to solve your problems and lift the weight from
your shoulders. Of course, in this life we will never completely rid ourselves of difficulties, but we can find some
relief in God Himself. Sometimes even then, the crushing
burden of circumstances remains heavy on your shoulders; but when you know God, they are no longer heavy,
even though they remain.
Knowing God can eliminate every cancer from your
mind, and transform ashes into beauty. When you come
to fully understand Godhigh and lifted upnothing
else matters in life. An elevated view of God changes your
perspective, while an inaccurate view of God corrupts all
your thoughts. Lord, I want to know You.
Knowing God intimately. When Daniel said, But the
people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits (Dan. 11:32b, emphasis mine), he used the Hebrew word yad, which means more than acquaintance or
casual knowledge. Daniel is not telling us to know about
God; He is describing intimate knowledge as you become
one intimately with God. The term yad is the same word
used for sexual intimacyAnd Adam knew Eve his wife;
and she conceived (Gen. 4:1a, see also verse 25). I am not
saying to know God is likened to having sex; I am saying it
has the same results. When you know God intimately, it is
similar to the results when a man knows his wife intimately,
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They shall be one flesh (Gen. 2:24b). When you know
God intimately, it is becoming one with Him. He knows
you and you know Him. While you both have separate
identities, you become one in spirit.
I have lived with my wife, Ruth, for 49 years as I write
this chapter. I know her intimately; I know what she likes
to eat when she goes to a restaurant, and I know what
restaurants she prefers. I know things like how she talked
with our children and how she both punished and rewarded them. As a matter of fact, I know my wife so well
we can talk without using words. The other day I asked
her, Did you get the? Before I could finish my request
she answered, Yes, its in the garage. I followed up with
another question, What about the? And before I
could finish my second question she answered, Yes, its
also in the garage. I was going to ask her about getting
the lawn mower and the gas so I could cut the grass. She
knew what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, and
what I needed to get the job done. When you are so intimate that you are one, you will know what another asks
even before the words are communicated.
Knowing God can be described in four pictures.
Knowing God is like a son knowing his father; second,
like a wife knowing her husband; third, like sheep knowing their shepherd; and finally, like followers knowing the
king. Three relationships are portrayed by these pictures.
First, to know is to look up to the other one with respect.
Second, the person you know takes responsibility for your
140
KNOWING
welfare. Finally, the person, like God, allows himself to be
known.
How well do you know God? Do you merely know
about God, or are you one intimately with God? Lord,
make me one with You.
Knowing God builds strength. Lets go back to our original Bible verse at the beginning of this chapter. But the
people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits (Dan. 11:32b). In the original language, exploits
means to work effectively. That means you will become
successful or victorious in difficult situations. The Hebrew word for strong (hazak) means ability to endure the
race or ability to resist temptations. When you know God,
you can fend for yourself. When you know God, you can
resist strange temptations in this crazy world.
Be careful that youre not seeking to know God just
to be toughed up. If you have any selfish or dishonest
desire to know God, you have deceived yourself. The
man who thinks he knows something does not yet know
as he ought to know (1 Cor. 8:2 NIV).
141
To Take Away
We know God because He took the initiative to first
know us. God told Jeremiah, Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart
( Jer. 1:5a NIV). God could tell Moses, I am pleased with
you and I know you by name (Ex. 33:17b NIV).
We can know God by faith because He sent His Son
to die for us. He took the initiative before we ever desired
to know Him. Thank You, Lord, for seeking me.
To know God, You must come to Him through Jesus
Christ who said, I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me ( Jn. 14:6
NIV).
Jesus knew us long before we came to know Him. He
said, I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My
sheep know MeI lay down My life for the sheepMy
sheep listen to My voice; I know themthey shall never
perish ( Jn. 10:14-15,27-28 NIV). Because He first knew
us, we can know Him. Lord, I want to know You better.
142
KNOWING
NOTES
143
Additional copies of this book and other

book titles from DESTINY IMAGE are
available at your local bookstore.
For a complete list of our titles,
visit us at www.destinyimage.com
Send a request for a catalog to:
Destiny Image Publishers, Inc.

P.O. Box 310
Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310
Speaking to the Purposes of God for This
Generation and for the Generations to Come
144

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KNOWING

Copyright 2002 Destiny Image

ne of my most treasured friendships is the one I

environment of shared interests and mutual trust. The

KNOWING GOD THROUGH FASTING

s I ended a 40-day fast, the publisher asked me,

KNOWING GOD THROUGH FASTING

s Elijah the prophet entered the town of Zarephath,

to go there to live with a widow. Why a widow? the gruff

KNOWING GOD THROUGH FASTING

KNOWING GOD THROUGH FASTING

KNOWING GOD THROUGH FASTING

KNOWING GOD THROUGH FASTING

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y wife and I have a favorite restaurant near the

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KNOWING GOD THROUGH FASTING

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ost Christians today have lost the virtue of waiting.

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KNOWING GOD THROUGH FASTING

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KNOWING GOD THROUGH FASTING

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s a young boy I remember playing till suppertime,

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ot too far from my home the Virginia Ten Miler is

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Future dreams are built on daily routines.

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ome people are like azalea bushes planted on the

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asting is looking beyond the things you can see in this